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All good things must, one day, come to an end. But sometimes, that ends comes sooner than one thinks. Such is the way of the Mantle of the Raven, one of Freedom City's most iconic heroes. The Batman of the Freedom City setting, one that passed from Father to Daughter, and now is soon to pass from Master to Apprentice. Currently, Raven II/Callie Summers is the one actively holding that legacy. Aleksander Nakani, aka Nevermore, is slated to take up the mantle sometime this summer (after his graduation from high school!). But just passing on the cape and cowl because he graduated, that feels a bit lame. So instead, I'm going to try to run a thread or three to pass the torch. I've hashed some initial ideas out, and I'm laying out the framework here. What I'm looking for is input on the NPCs, especially villains, to be involved, and then some PCs to have assist Nevermore. My general thought on the setup is that Raven has been tracking some faint trails of clues that lead her to, I dunno, a warehouse or something with an electronic message left there. It's a taunting message from Dr. Sin, her grandfather, all wrinkly and evil and stuff, taunting her that she never faced him directly because she knew she would lose, and now she's getting old too. She keeps mopping up the scraps from his table. Can she leave him be? So the Raven goes after him...and runs right into a group of cowl-type villains (the likes of Blackbird, Fear Master, Red Death, Warden, Silencer, and/or others) led by a much-younger-looking Dr. Sin. Via some magic or super-science or something, he has not only maintained his life and health, but reversed his aging to be in the prime of his life (physically he looks maybe 30), and even granted himself some minor metahuman powers (probably just a light Paragon package or some such). The combination is too much, even for Raven, even wearing her most cutting-edge powered armor suit. It turns out that Sin chose this moment to strike because he believed that before long, her advancing age would prompt her to create a suit powerful enough this plan wouldn't be guaranteed to work. But he had to wait until now to let age do some of the work. It was a delicate balance! So she's captured, imprisoned, etc., not sure yet what he's going to do with her (probably taunt her father for a while, then brainwash her and give her the same rejuvination treatment he used, make her his chief lieutenant). Before he can taunt anyone, an automated timer and message alert Nevermore to what's going on. Queue the Recruitment Montage! Nevermore takes an entire team to fight these guys, just enough that everyone gets a one-on-one matchup, and he gets to take on Dr. Sin one-on-one, and manages to beat him (dice willing!). Callie's been hurt and worn down enough by all of this that, while she can function in her civilian life well enough, it's too much of a risk to take up the Cowl again. So the story ends with Aleksander standing on a rooftop.... As the Raven. What I'm looking for: Bit of help refining the ideas here. Suggestions on which NPCs to have as additional villains. Suggestions on pre-made sheets to use for everyone, and adjustments as we think necessary. Help figuring out who a good PC team to assist would be! I'm really wanting and hoping to keep this as a primarily-Cowl endeavor. That's not to say that no one on the mission can have any powers, just that I'm wanting this to be more the skill-y characters than the likes of our biggest, flashiest, most powerful heroes steamrolling the bad guys. Motivation among the Cowls is probably to "keep it in house"! So this is a combination of "putting the idea out for refinement" and "recruitment drive". I'd be looking for 4, at most 5, other heroes. This won't all happen at once; I'm thinking maybe 1 "setup" thread, and 1 "action" thread. Time-wise, I'd like this to be built up a bit, so the 1st thread probably happens in a month or two (and is forward-set a bit), and the next one after that one's wrapped. Maybe starting it in...April-ish? May, if that's how it shakes out.