KnightDisciple

I am 100% on board with this so far. Loving the imagery here. The touch of Merlin getting impatient and forcing the Table to pick the next Knights is a nice touch. Especially since he probably only thinks he knows what that does/means...

Raven Family Takeover: 1 IC Post It's My Party: 2 IC Posts Meanwhile at the Stately Summers Manor: 2 IC Posts Playdate: 3 IC Posts Putting a Knot in Things: 2 IC Posts Thunderbird Ancient Enemies: 1 IC Post Cosmic Love: 3 IC Posts Everything Is Temporary: 3 IC Posts Second Coming: 1 IC Post Wild Before the Light: 6 IC Posts Guide Point to Raven.

Notice: 33. Turn pending what this gives me...

Micah had not picked a mountain when Eira offered the list, merely nodded in thanks as he held himself tightly. He waited until her projection was gone before he got out of bed; Pan saw that his best friend was wearing light athletic shorts under his sheets, and so had likely been too self-conscious to get out with a girl "present". "Give me a couple." He moved to his dresser and pulled a couple of things out... ------------------------------------------ When Eira came onto the roof, Micah was standing there clad in a simple white t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and some rugged boots. Goggles were strapped over his eyes, and the power dampeners were gone from his body. The air had a slight charge to it, and she could see slight a slight green glow in each lens. His hands clenched and unclenched. "Thank you, Eira. We're going to Mount Mitchell. I need to let this out quickly." Before she could get a word in, emerald wings of light extended from his back, flapped once, and bore him skyward in a rush of air. He quickly gained speed, only stopping his acceleration once he saw or sensed that Eira or Pan was falling behind. It shouldn't take them very long at all to reach the mountain's peak... ---------------------------------------- Micah landed in a crouch, a circle of dust moving away from the spot as he did so, such was the wind-force of his landing. He stood as the wings on his back flexed and folded slightly. Sparks danced across his hands as he waited for Pan and Eira to land. When they did, he would look straight up for just a moment, and take a deep breath. "If you feel something should be said before I begin, do it now. I can't hold it in much longer. And you might want to give yourselves some cover."

Alek took Jerome's hand with a beaming smile, eyes sparkling in delight. "Good to meet you, Jerome! The pleasure's all mine! Hey, nice to meet you, you too. Nice tie!" He quickly made the rounds of the table, shaking the hand of each person present. In the back of his mind, Alek made a note to scrub his hands with the strongest safe soap he could after they got out of here... "It seems something held up my assistant. My apologies; he's serving as a part-time intern. Paid of course, don't want the journalists coming down on us about unpaid labor or whatever, right? Haha!" He gave the group an exaggerated wink before casually dropping the portfolio he'd been holding onto the table. He sat down with a flourish, sweeping his suit jacket just so to keep it out of the way yet look fashionable. He flipped it open as he continued to smile, taking just a second to glance at it before looking up at everyone present. He clasped his hands on the table and leaned forward a bit as he spoke. "I'll be honest, I'm absolutely a new face here. I'm sorry for the surprise entrance, but I'm eager to get to know how things go around here! Oh, you know what, how rude of me! I apologize, Mister King, I forgot to give you my name a moment ago." He leaned back, one hand moved to rest on the side of the lush chair, the other positioned to prop up his head as he leaned it to one side. "My name is Aleksander Nakani. I'm here as the duly-appointed, legally-empowered representative for Mister Duncan Summers and Miss Calliope Summers. They recognize this may seem a bit odd; the Summers family has been fairly hands-off for several years now. But it's a new decade in a new millennium. Time for a change! Alas, Mister Summers must be cautious of his travels at his age, and Miss Sumers is ever so busy with running that little academy. So they sent me. I do hope that's alright? I have all the paperwork regarding Power of Attorney, Proxy Voting Power, and so on. Boring stuff, really. So. Catch me up, if you don't mind?"

Couple random thoughts... -Currently I'm inclined (partly on a whim) to make Gawain be good at cooking. I've got a couple musical PCs and a couple artistic PCs, don't have one that cooks yet. -My mental image for the castle has it sitting on an asteroid sort of like the Watchtower from Young Justice; the castle being kind of tucked into the asteroid a bit, protected on 3 sides by it. But it would also have big, golden solar sails/panels, less as a means of propulsion (I imagine it just teleporting around), and moreso to capture solar power (Gawain's big on solar energy!).

To many in the world of "big business", Aleksander Garen Nakani was a wild unknown. An Eastern European orphan adopted by a couple who were, frankly, unknowns before that point and for years after. It was less than a decade ago that they became permanent assistants and employees of Duncan Summers and Calliope Summers, the wealthy patrons of the prestigious Claremont Academy, as well as a half-dozen major charities scattered around Freedom City and the Eastern Seaboard. Loren Barbeau firmly established himself as the overseer of the Summers' ancestral home, the grounds, and several other private property holdings, many of which were converted to either historical sites and museums, or transferred for charitable causes over time. Melissa Barbeau is the more formidable force, and in the last 5 years has aggressively managed and expanded the financial status of the Summers family, taking the post of "financial advisor" as a sort of open license. So when their adoptive son, himself an alumnus of Claremont Academy under the direct tutelage and supervision of Calliope Summers, and recent recipient of dual degrees in Business Adminsitration and Computer Administration, summa cum laude from Hanover Institute of Technology. Today he wore an all-black affair, the very picture of young, vibrant business in the new millennium. As Kamala Khanufasa stomped past, he side-stepped without having to look at her, and with a gentle tug for his apprentice to aid his own maneuver. Only after she was past did he look up, closing his flat black portfolio and tucking it under one arm as he pulled off his gold-rimmed sunglasses (which Charlie knew contained a wealth of AR data visible only to the wearer). As he spoke to Charlie, he gently folded the glasses up and placed them in their padded case, then in his jacket pocket. "Best to get used to it. People in business are often irritated or mindlessly hurrying." He checked his watch, and waited about 30 seconds, before nodding with a slight smirk. "Alright, now we go in. That puts us exactly one minute after the on-calendar meeting start. Early enough they won't be completely relaxed, but late enough we'll catch them off-guard. Remember, you're my intern here. You're in there with that laptop to provide information, but please try to keep the commentary low. I'll manage the people." With that, he smoothly walked forward, making his way down the rest of the hall and to the ornate wooden doors leading into the board room. With one arm, he smoothly opened one of them and stepped inside, his face holding what some might think was an almost vapid smile. "Ladies and gentlemen, good morning! Are we ready to get started?"

If we're rolling with "The Table is an independent mystical artifact", maybe the Table is what chose New!Mordred? I feel like most people wouldn't be all "I SHALL BE MORDRED" while wanting to be a hero. Also, posting this handy bit from Dok's Tumblr about myths around the Knights. It's at least some idea seeds. As for the Megazord idea, that is fun but definitely late-game. Knight: Gawain Secret ID: Human Man, 25 years old. Mixed Arabic and Caucasian/European descent. 5'10" tall, about 175lbs; fit but lean. Dark black hair, grey eyes, clean-shaven but sports a modest pompadour. Character Themes: Strength, Endurance, Moving Forward, Facing Evil Head-On. Gawain was the Knight who stood up for the challenge of the Green Knight. Today Gawain's powers and armor have inherited the mantle of the Green Knight, at least to a degree. More than many of the Knights, Gawain seems focused on moving forward to face the threats of, and in, the future... Extra Powers: None yet. Armor Colors: Primarily dark/forest green, with bronze highlights. Concept/Backstory: The man who takes on the mantle of Gawain also serves as the major "tech head" of the group. While his knowledge of magic and the arcane seems limited to how it interacts with the WonderTech of the suits and vehicles the Knights use, his knowledge of technology is extraordinary. Gawain's personality tends to swing a bit between dour but determined, and a bit bombastic, depending on the circumstances. His preferred approach to a fight is just to wade in and use his axe to deal with the problem.

I like Tree!Zordon!Merlin. I think maybe we could go with Merlin having had to take decades or more to "assemble" the castle? Something like slowly pulling pieces to gather the Castle, put it on the asteroid, etc. Gathering the Knights was his final act. I love the idea of Cosmic Camelot as a castle built into an asteroid/meteor (maybe it's one that's in an orbit closer to Earth, but not a collision course?). I like the idea of the courtyard with with Merlin's tree in the center. Maybe we catch glimpses of the roots all over? And the castle's a mix of classic architecture and WonderTech futuristic stuff? Color Coded For Our Convenience is a good way to do it, yeah. Maybe we just try to not get too wildly different in descriptions/inspiration pictures? Do we want to try and all pick "theme animals" for the knights, or just kind of do whatever? I think having the classical name of the knights be the code names works well. If someone plays up their character getting "lost in the role", they could start referring to everyone as their "code" name all the time. I would lean toward the team being less reincarnations/semi-reincarnations, and more something like "you fit the character profile". Maybe there's hints at a sort of "mantle", but the flip side is that if you lean into the "mantle" too much (developing Powers that are in-theme, rather than mostly your armor), you risk being more immersed in the Myth, aka getting stuck in the Cycle? Merlin's probably involved, but maybe the Round Table is up there and is also a mystical artifact that helped him choose? So even Merlin isn't 100% sure, and we have some mystery. If Arthur ever did show up, he'd be able to commune fully with the Table and tell us, but for a long while that won't be a thing. I'd vote for Mordred, if he shows up, being at least ambiguous at first. Arthur should be in Avalon, which I'd vote can be a sort of small parallel dimension. Less something like Earth XX or whatnot, more like a place removed from time. Sorta like Valinor in LOTR? And even then, it's likely he's still asleep/recovering. Maybe the old bit about "when Britain needs him most" has morphed to a more generically-heroic "when Earth needs him most"? We're going thoroughly heroic, so I feel like Arthur should be firmly in the "Right Makes Might" camp; thus, he's less concerned about ruling than he is protecting. Maybe one of our big thematic villains is parallel or pretender Arthurs who aren't as good and wholesome? That'd give us some fun angst and questioning on everyone's part.

"What." Micah's facial expression hovered somewhere between 'complete shock' and 'completely done with this'. This was absolutely not what he'd expected, in any scenario. He took the scene in for a moment, then stepped between the ghost and the frightened father. "Okay, whoa, hold on, um..." His eyes flicked between the two iterations of Eira. "Hold your horses, Little Eira. Look. This man's a real piece of work, but I think we can sort that out with the help of the cops and whatnot. He's probably gonna feel real stupid when, uh, you confirm he could have just asked for help." At those last few words his head turned and he fixed the man with an unamused glare. "So let's all settle down before we start makin' decisions I reckon we'll regret later."

Micah stayed very still for several moments after Pan finished. Then, a tremor passed through his body, and Eira felt his power dampeners experience a brief surge. Pan saw his eyes glow green again. "I need a mountain." For a moment, that quote simply hung in the air. Then Micah looked back and forth between Pan and Eira. "I need a tall mountain. Whatever the tallest, barest mountain in the Appalachians is. If I take these off and fly, I know I can make it that far without cutting loose. But I need a mountain, or mountains, to blunt the effects. Mountain ranges already block and alter weather patterns. I can use that when I'm done, to prevent major issues for anyone." He looked at Eira. "Eira, I...can you check if there are any major storm systems near the East Coast? Primarily from further inland." He gave her a long look before he continued, his voice hinting, very slightly, at the amount of restraint he was currently placing on himself and his powers. "If this doesn't help me at all, we'll go talk to your Aunt. Or maybe even if it does. Yeah. I just need to...let off some steam, first."

Alek laughed at Charlie's obvious nerves. "Now now Charlie, you know The Vest is only when you do something wrong. Anyways, I think my mom made her snicker-doodles and chocolate chip cookies today. Dad's better with cakes and brownies, won't get that for a couple of days." He gave an exaggerated slap to his mid-section. "Gotta watch those calories after all. Come, children!" As he worked to shuffle young Callie and his own ward toward the kitchen, Alek gave the older Calliope a speculative look. It quickly morphed into one of sad compassion, and he gave her a light smile. A quick tilt of his head pointed toward the kitchen. "Come on, before your dad steals too many of them to nibble on this week." When Charlie and Callie entered the informal kitchen/dining room, they'd be greeted by Alek's mother (who Callie had already met). She smiled at the eager teenagers and the barely-hiding-his-eagerness 20-something. "Well now, good thing I've got some snacks prepared!" Two trays piled high with cookies sat on the table behind her, with 5 glasses of milk sitting out waiting for everyone present to grab one. Alek was suddenly next to the table, a chocolate-chip cookie halfway to his mouth. "Thanks, Mom." There were cookies aplenty for all in the room that day...

Alek had a glass of...milk?...when Ashley came over; it appeared to pair with the cookie he was eating. Where did he get the cookie? Well, he was the Raven. His eyes shifted toward his fellow "graduated sidekick" when she stopped and glanced at the young Callie, then at him. He raised his milk for another sip, then kept the cup up for just a moment as he spoke softly enough only Ashley could hear him. "I gave her one year from the day we met the young one. If she hasn't said anything by then, I tell her myself." Then Charlie challenged Alek's taste in music. The vigilante raised an eyebrow at his apprentice, took a loud sip of milk, then spoke up. "Are you sure Callie's into Trooper and Fratello Metallo? She strikes me as more of a glam rock fan."

Micah followed along with the group, clearly rattled by everything. "I can't be the only one finding this a bit freaky." When the soldiers mentioned a person who'd been injured and needed medical attention, he shifted to concern. "How badly is she hurt? Several of us can fly, but is she in a condition where we'd need to try and get a stretcher or-" He stopped, sighed, and face-palmed in slow motion. "Or I guess Mia could teleport us close to a hospital."

Doktor'd! I'd like to request that Thoughtspeed and Sun Walker be Archived/Retired, at least for the time being. I may come back to them in the future, but at this point it'll be a while.

I'm down for Cosmic Camelot, thematically. I think that we're probably on the same wavelength there? I'm going to be freeing up some "space" on my character board, so having some Vet Equipment rewards assigned for the HQ and the Bike shouldn't be an issue. Do we want Merlin completely absent, or more of a "limited" presence, like the AI/Trapped In Crystal ideas from above? Also, at least for the starting group, do we want to try and find inspiration/reference artwork that's similar to each other? To show a sort of common design root?

I'm also of a mind of NPC/Absent King Arthur. For "AI Merlin", what if we go with the bit from the Excalibur movie, and Merlin's trapped in a giant crystal...that turns out to be superconductive, so it's plugged into a super-computer! He's got AI-like analytical and processing abilities, but his magic is extremely limited (maybe only to things he either has physical hard-lines to, or complicated and resource-intensive "wireless nodes" or some such)? That gives us a sort of magi-tech feel, a Merlin who's been around the block, but we have a really blatant reason he can't just hop around and magic away the problems (can't use the excuse of scaring the Muggles, since supers are a dime ad dozen these days!). A few more random thoughts: -This idea feels like a good fit for Space, High-Tech, High-Magic/Fantasy, Dimensional, and Cosmic threats. Two-bit thugs, drug-smuggling rings, and "average" super-crime don't feel like they should be regular fare. --This could lead to intersections with the European team whose name I am blanking on that we have on this site, since they interact with the high-tech robo-nation. --And also the various big space factions at times. -I feel like they should probably pretty quickly end up as something of a widely-recognized "official group", because nothing about them says "secret mission". Yeah, customized armor connected to the themes of the knights. Maybe some of us have latent/minor powers amplified by the suits, and others are 100% suit-only powers. Offhand, I'm currently leaning toward a big, tough, strong looking build. Personal weapon is some kind of axe/halberd. Not 100% sure beyond that yet though I have some future upgrade ideas. I'm figuring we're shooting for starting at PL 10/150PP, and working from there? Potent heroes but plenty of room for upgrades etc?

From some brainstorming with RocketLord, a few more thoughts: -Calling their tech-base "WonderTech", to give a slightly more fanciful name to "magitech" or the like. The idea being it's more than just "really good technology". -Bouncing off of the "atomic steeds" concept, everyone has a hoverbike but they each have slightly different properties? -The Knights all use some form of power armor, but we all have a lot of freedom to customize what that looks like and what powers it grants. -Depending on the Role/Knight you pick, maybe you still have some level of innate powers. Bedievere might have some level of magical ability, for example.

Raven let the "kids" go to work first. Arrow's shot was impeccable, and it appeared to have distracted one of the guards. Then Nevermore ensured that that gentleman was even less capable of raising the alarm than the others. That left a single target that was unaware of them....but still potentially dangerous. Raven moved without looking at the other two heroes; he trusted them to be professional right now. The dark detective of Freedom City moved like a living shadow, his cape sitting just so on his shoulders such that his figure was indistinct and obscured. His steps may as well have been upon open air, such was the lack of noise they made. He timed his approach so that he was directly behind the man, right up until the moment he stopped and made a 180 on his patrol route. The criminal guard had enough time to register surprise at the presence of the Raven directly in front of him. Then the Raven's fist lashed out, striking at the man's chest, seeking to hit his diaphragm. To knock his breath away, prevent him from speaking, or crying out a warning. The fact that the hero's physical blow was backed up by a sudden surge of electrical current that would cause the thug's muscles to seize up even more was just icing on the proverbial cake.

Hm. So many things we can mine for ideas here! Offhand, I'm wondering if we should maybe have it where none of the PCs are either Arthur or Merlin, who we build as NPCs? That way we can kind of avoid too much of a sense of "I'm in charge of you!" stuff going on. There's a deep enough bench of Knights of the Round Table we can still do a lot. Especially if this is a "stepping into their roles". So, if this is about "Camelot in the age of supers", is the idea that Arthur and Co are less "here to rule" and more "help protect the world, provide a shining example, etc"? Also! Do we want to go full fantasy with magical everything, fantasy-stylized super-tech, magitech, or something else?

Was going to do this yesterday but Unseen Servant was down for a bit, then I got sidetracked.... Raven is going to move to the East guy quietly and try to punch him with his stun-gauntlets. Stealth: 32. Melee Attack: 23. I'm guessing that's enough to hit him. That'll be a DC 24 Toughness save vs the punch damage, and a DC 20 Fortitude Save vs the Stun effect (limited to Daze).

Hahah! And having SAD be run by an increasingly-less-scrupulous board means that company also needs new direction. This could merge well with some of my thoughts of Alek not just being a generic "business guy". I'll need to give him some ranks in the appropriate knowledge when he gets his maxed-out rebuild, but otherwise this is all some excellent stuff. Very comic-book-y, and gives us some long-term work.

"I...I talked to one of the school counselors a couple of times. But...he said that more than two meetings would mean we needed to talk to my mom about it. And I'm just..." He hugged his knees closer and closed his eyes; his head tilted forward and rested his forehead on his knees. "I'm ashamed, Pan. I feel like being fooled for even a couple of minutes by 'Alice' betrayed her, somehow. I...it's fuzzy, foggy, but I remember what I was saying and doing and feeling. I felt ready to just...forget and set aside everything they taught me, all the values and beliefs my parents didn't just 'teach' me but showed me and talked with me about. The counselor said she was using some kind of mind control, but part of me feels like that's just an excuse. I feel almost...dirty." He raised his head at Pan's question about how he felt about Alice. Pan knew by now how thoroughly the devices Micah wore shut down his powers. Which was why he might feel the tiniest flicker of concern as the Oklahoma boy's eyes, usually as brown as fresh, living earth, were as green as the lightning commanded. "I hate her, Pan. She scares me; the thought of what she might do to people I love scares me to the middle of my soul. But the way she reached in and took hold? It makes me angry. I've literally never hated anyone in my life. But I hate her. She made me almost hurt, or worse, someone that I actually lo-" Here he stopped, blushed, and looked at the way, not wanting to meet either Pan or Eira's gaze. "-like. Someone, some people, that I actually like. And am friendly with. Friends. I don't like risking hurting friends."

I could have sworn I responded....anyways. I'm going to throw my vote in on "smaller-ish company, originally Jasmine's pet project, and now in need of clean-up", with a side order of "they also have independent wealth from investment and do a lot of philanthropy". The latter jives with the skills for Alek's adoptive parents. But the former gives us something to do. And we can have missions to hit various dirty corporate types and nip that problem, and then occasionally have some fluffier stuff about the positive growth etc. of the company.

Raven took a moment to scope out the surroundings as-is. His head stopped as he took in the already-open door. His hands flashed a simple, silent signal of "wait" to Arrow and Nevermore, and he moved with care and precision across the floor. Even the trained ears of the vigilantes would struggle to pick up the sounds of his footsteps; in the noisier area filled with talking thugs, it wasn't even a contest. When he reached the door, Raven carefully caught it with one hand and eased it further open. He signaled the other two with him to move to the sides, out of immediate view. Finally, when the door was mostly open, he stopped; he reached of and took a piece of rubble, carefully placing it such that it wedged the door in place. Then, in a smooth set of motions, he pulled a pair of cylindrical components from his belt and plugged them into slightly recessed slots on his gloves. He flexed his fingers once, then nodded. Nevermore knew that his mentor had just activated the low-level stun feature of his suit, which ought to provide a nasty shock for any unwary criminal...