Heritage

Olopi mentioned in chat that the current location of Basel might make a good spot, as it would then border France, Germany and Switzerland. I rather like this idea.

Thanks for the Continental input, RedGuy! My biggest fear is that such a hypothetical city would feel too EuroDisney, and a good point about it being a former duchy, though there may well be some sort figurehead royal family around. I have a limited knowledge of fumetti, but agree they'd be a good touchstone; mostly I've learned about them from reading about film adaptations, as well as gialli and Edgar Wallace krimis. I also have some familiarity with European characters like the previously-mentioned Diabolik as well as Fantômas and Dr. Mabuse, enough to know they have a very different feel from either their American or British counterparts. The enigmatic supervillain or anti-hero who uses his wits, disguises, technology and a network of spies and flunkies is a long-standing trope that goes all the way back to the 'yellow peril' stories of Fu Manchu. Obviously we don't allow villainous PCs anymore, but any morally ambigous crimefighters or villainous NPCs in Argent City could do well to draw inspiration from this heady stew of European influences.

Currently leaning toward aging her up, as there are possibly creepy connotations to her being stuck in adolescence when her classmates like Morgan and Corbin continued to age...

Recently I've been toying with the idea of bringing back an old PC of my mine, Jeena Vandermol, aka Cubic. I didn't get to use her much before I left back in 2011, which I've always regretted. I have three unused Rewards, so obtaining a new slot wouldn't be hard. The original sheet (linked above) was mostly the work of someone else (possibly a certain Brain-y fellow) and would probably require extensive revision. While I could age her up to 22, this being a superhero world, she could have been stuck in a stasis field for six years; not sure which would work better. I'm not a hundred percent sure on this, but I'm looking for suggestions and feedback; not having her twin brother Covalent around would be a big change, but to be honest, he was a bit of a trouble making hothead, so she might be better off without him.

Just tossing out Bastion City, as another possible name ?

Interesting! It might be a good idea to make such a place the main city of a small duchy, like Luxembourg or Lichtenstein, with two or more official languages like French and German. Banking and/or technology as well as tourism would probably be the basis of its economy, and there should be both a major research university and a well-established polytechnic school within its walls, which it might actually have , like many European cities still have at their core thanks to people like the Marquis de Vauban. The two sides of the city might have somewhat different characters; one natural split is to have one bank be the older side while the other is the newer. The 'old bank' still shows signs of the old city walls, and is home to the university, major art museums and a beautiful cathedral, as well as the original government buildings. The 'new bank' features the polytechnic (lots of glass, steel and concrete), major tech firms and perhaps a modern 'super-jail' for metahumans. You'd also need a few castles dotting the surrounding countryside, with maybe one or two in the city proper; one could make an excellent base for superheroes, while at least one should have a dark and sinister reputation, maybe involving a fringe sect of the Knights Templar.

DC 20 Reflex save vs Super-Breath Trip

This was really starting to annoy Casey; this guy was clearly up to something as well as criminally stupid, and she just wanted this to be offer with as soon as possible. Not really bothering to put her full effort into it, she took a quick fast breath and blew the idiot to the ground with a quick blast of air before landing right in front of him, hands on her hips. "Get up, you stupid lame-o; you can't escape from me, and if you continue to talk, I can have you arrested for impersonating a federal agent, because unlike you, I actually can call Vigilant on my phone."

Grim found Foreshadow's concern to be both amusing and touching, but she completely understood where he was coming from, and his bringing it up spoke well of his professionalism and good character. "Oh honey, don't worry about me; I've been doing this a long, long time, and I've seen combat and all manner of nastiness, some of which I perpetrated in my younger days." She sighed and looked a little wistful. "As fun as that first scenario sounds, what I really want to do is resolve this quickly so I can be there for my people, y'know? That's what's really important in life." The changeling nodded decisively. "A quick snatch and grab it is." And then she faded from view, until just her voice hung in the air, like the Cheshire cat. "You take the lead; I'll follow."

You left MG out of the Init order; she should follow right after El Huracan,

IMPERSONATED by Fox Just noticed that Miracle Girl's Mimicry bonus for Bluff should be +16, not +14; an error on my part.

"Copy that, Air force One. Miracle Girl, over and out." Angling over base, Casey saw a whole lot she didn't like, but she did recognize two friendly faces in the fray. But then she heard the request for a sitrep from one of her dad's coworkers, and felt compelled to reply. "Argonaut, this is Miracle Girl. Air Force One has been downed at White Sands Missile Range! I repeat, Air Force One is down! It is taking fire from multiple metahuman hostiles. I count four, one a possible psychic, who cannot be allowed to reach POTUS. I repeat, possible psychic threat to POTUS! Friendly metas are working with ground forces now, will move to join them, over." They had to try to break the psychic's concentration; she didn't relish the thought, due to her own weakness to mental attack, but a possible mind reader (or worse, a mind controller) could not be allowed access to the leader of the free world. The blonde powerhouse dropped to the ground near Hyperactive and El Huracan, and offered them both a tight smile and a terse wave. "Hi, guys. Heck of a place to meet, eh?" She jabbed a finger at the figure touching his head. "We need to take out the possible telepath asap; the President and mental powers are a dangerous mix. I can take the shot."

Initiative for Miracle Girl: 1d20+9=12

"Copy that." The city of Boston spread out before her, and with a hint of shame she realized she'd never made a proper visit to Beantown, an oversight that would hopefully soon be corrected. She soon spotted her mentor and dropped out of the sky to greet her, landing with surprising gentleness out of respect for the old stones of the venerable institution. It was weird to see Terrifica out in broad daylight and out of her longcoat, but for the first time the young powerhouse was able to appreciate just how ripped the super-genius really was under it Dang, she is cut! As always, Miracle Girl was all smiles and warmth as she waved at the costumed crimefighter. "Hi Terrifica; what's up?"

Gretchen looked around and sighed, having never been inside this warehouse before. "Great. Where the hell are we?" - - - "Wait, 'reabsorb'? That sounds pretty kinkeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The sensations were strange and unnerving (and yes, just a little kinky) and then she was back, on the rug, next to Sam. Lynn stared at her hands for several seconds, fascinated by the lines on her palms; it was like nothing even happened. And yet she'd seen so much crazy s###. "That...was so weird. Let's never do that again, hey?"

The Nameless clucked her tongue and shrugged. "Tell me, do the elections back on Earth make things any better? I wonder how much this will actually change things; I know your expression about 'the lesser of two evils'..." Then the alien shook her head and bopped her forehead with her wrist. "I'm sorry, I'm being terribly rude." She smiled and shifted her drink into the crook of her left arm to offer a firm handshake. "Ditra Fifty-Five, Coalition Councilor for the Second Hive. Nice to meet you, Mr. Sentinel." How exciting to engage in human customs!

"This thing is too weird," stated Casey matter-of-factly as she shook her head and paced up and down, arms folded across her chest. "How can something shift between being living thing and an inanimate object? Where does its brain go, or any of it's organs? How can it stay alive underground for thousands of years under all that pressure? Is it even alive?" That thought stopped the blonde teenager in her tracks. "Wait a minute; what if it only looks alive? What if it's, like, alien nanotech or molecular machines that can shift between states? Maybe it's just so advanced that it looks like its alive!"

Soon Ditra was slurping down a deep bowl of noodles, a delightfully humanoid activity that brought her immense pleasure. She was trying to juggle her wooden tongs, soup bowl and her bottle of Triple-V when she noticed the strange figure standing near the edge of the plaza; he wore a brightly colored suit that covered his whole body (colors oddly familiar, begin datascan) except for a sort of flap he'd pulled up to drink. What an interesting humanoid! No, an actual human from distant Terra...with a war record that...wait, there must be a data error; he can't be- The green-skinned beauty found herself inexplicably drawn to this human, this Earthman so far from home; as she crossed the footpath heading in his direction, she pondered the many wonders he must have seen during such a life, and the horrors... The agent was soon standing before the Earthman, her cheeks tinted a slightly darker green and a sheepish smile on her lips. Records indicated that he spoke the human language known as 'Americanish', so she started with that. "Hi." Her accent was hard to place, possibly Midwestern. "I'm sorry to bother you, but are you...the Solar Sentinel?"

So Terrifica wanted to hang out. Of course, she didn't come out and say that to her young protégé Casey Blankenship, but she heavily implied it. And more importantly, she sounded nervous; Terrifica was never nervous. Annoyed, irritated, maybe even condescending, but the masked super-genius was always in control. Well, there was that one time she got all mad at that crazy robot scientist... Based on that implication, the blonde powerhouse was currently winging her way to Boston with a daypack over one shoulder, in which were packed several carefully folded outfits and a few pairs of shoes. She had no idea what her mentor was planning, so she decided to be a true Scout and come prepared. When she was about a mile out, Casey broadcast at the same frequency Terrifica used for her comms; probably not necessary, but if the masked crimefighter really was nervous about whatever she had planned, a little bit of heads up might be appreciated. "This is Miracle girl, approaching from the Southwest at approximately two hundred miles per hour, over."

The speedster had been nice enough to give Pixie!Grim a lift, carrying her in special fanny pack she'd conjured up just for the occasion. Once they'd reached the caverns she dispelled her travel accommodations and took to the air to do a little scouting of her own. As she flew, she paused periodically to stick a wad of gray goop to strategic places throughout the complex, a sort of conjured 'gum' that allowed her to shift her senses or teleport to any of dozens of angles. Nothing slips by my airtight security net! Muhahaha! She also lent here fae sense to the enterprise to see if there was anything only she could notice.

-We may have a situation developing.- -Oh?- -Some non-typical preteen behavior; I'm gonna check it out. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for girls wandering off or otherwise acting suspicious. - -Copy that.- Lynn did her best to shift her perceptions from one girl to the other, using any of the glamoured items she'd given them as her eyes and ears; in the meantime, she did a number of humorous pratfalls as she tried to pry the mask off her face. Not sure how to offer comfort to the musically inclined older sibling (Gretch never realized how lucky she was to have two adults in her life that encouraged her artistic expression), she blurted out what she hoped might be useful advice. "You'll turn eighteen in a few years. Then your parents can't touch you. Until then, find a friend who likes music and jam at their house." The half-assed clown then abruptly turned and robotically marched off, hoping she'd somehow helped in her own curmudgeonly way. Too. Many. Kids.

It was nice to be back in West; Casey never realized just how much she missed home until she flew back and saw her friends and family. Of course, she loved Freedom City and the excitement of living there, but there was something about the Rocky Mountains that always called to her. Even though she'd aged out of the Scouts over a year ago (she hoped to join the Campus Girl Scouts once she started up at FCU), she always volunteered to help out with Scout activities when she was in town, which led her to a campground in Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico, where her old troop was cleaning up their campsite. "C'mon, Scouts, you can do better than that! This campsite looks like a bomb hit it!" Was that a little of her father's military discipline rearing its ugly head? Yes it was! The blonde heroine was no drill instructor, but the younger girls were still a bit scared of her. "Remember, 'Leave No Trace'! I see a lot of traces over here...and over here..." Suddenly Casey's head snapped up, and her gaze locked to the South, almost as though she could see something through the trees. She addressed one of the Scout Seniors without ever pulling her eyes off of...whatever was making her freak out. "Stephanie, I need you to take charge of the troop; finish camp cleanup, and then lead the girls through the navigational tutorial we worked out last night. Then I'll rendezvous with the troop before lunch. You copy?" "Uh, yes, yes I copy, ma'am." "Good." And then she turned to her 'second in command' and smiled. "And don't call me 'ma'am'; I work for a living." "Yes, yes, ma'am...Casey!" The old military joke went right over poor Stephanie's head. With a nod, Casey quickly jogged down the path, out of site. "Jeez, she's so intense," whispered one of the Junior Scouts to another, with a hint of admiration. - - - Meanwhile, Miracle Girl was now airborne, making a beeline towards White Sands; she wasn't quite sure what a 'Code Uniform Mayday' was, but it sounded bad, and if the President was involved... Tuning in to the same frequency, she replied in terse radio format. "Air Force One, this is Miracle Girl moving to your location to intercept. Will offer assistance with your landing, over." As she flew, Casey hummed a tone undetectable to the human ear due to being in the radio wave part of the EM spectrum, which allowed her to get an accurate radar view of the airspace over White Sands. She also took the opportunity to do a long range visual scan to see what she could see.

She'll take 20 while using Quickness.

Neither Lynn nor Gretchen said much after Ren faded from view; if what he said was true, there was no time to dwell on the past or what might have been. The young barista quickly filled up a Thermos with the last of the day's coffee while the changeling stuffed a bag with leftover pastries; after all, heroes needed grub, too. Lynn was just stuffing the coffee and baked goods into her extra-dimensional vault when the knock on the door came; Lynn took a peek through the eyes of a statue mounted over the front door before whistling in appreciation. "Wow; we have quite the crowd out there." "Give me a second to grab my autograph book." When the door opened, it was Grimalkin and the Shrike who greeted them, both wrapped from head to toe in dark leather and wearing masks. "We're ready to go." "We brought snacks."

I have no idea when she actually graduates in terms of the ceremony, but I think she's probably graduated by now?