Team UK

[Ari]

That is a very good point, Tiff. For national points they would need Welsh and Scottish members. Champion could be a Scot, with Guy Green as a Welsh, uh...person.

[Supercape]

Champion is perfect. 

 

y Dderwen is also good. I suspect this would be translated for generic use to something phonetically easier. How do you pronounce that "Derwen?"

 

As for spreading the team across the country this is a good idea in my opinion. I have no objection to Scots and Welsh, although it leaves you thinking England is London and that's it. 

 

My thoughts

 

y Dderwen - Welsh, no fixed abode?

Headcase - London?

Lucy Diamond - Scottish or Irish countryside?

Champion - A country town?

 

This gives a mix between highly urbanised (London), to urban (Champion, a country town), to Village life (Hippy Lucy), to literally a field (y Derwen). 

 

As Champion is the head, I fancy making him a bit middle of the road here, not Scottish or Irish, but some quiet smallville like English town. 

 

Personal thoughts only - any comments?

[Thevshi]

I agree that Defiant did not quite fit for the figurehead/symbolic leader of the old group.  Champion does sound better.  I also like the idea of him being generally from smaller English town, as opposed to Headcase being from larger, far more urbanized London.

 

y Dderwen sounds good for the "Oak" guy, as do the other thoughts regarding him and Lucy.

 

One comment I have been meaning to make regarding when Ari talked about y Dderwen getting along well with Headcase…that does not quite seem to fit to me.  Firstly, Headcase is/was pretty heavily involved with the Powers Project, in particular the psi sub-program that was a part of it, and it the Project does not sit well with y Dderwen, Headcase's involvement probably does not either.  Also, SC has talked about Headcase as being somewhat secretive and arrogant, sort of a spymaster type of personality.  I don’t see that meshing well with y Dderwen's personality as it has been discussed thus far either.

[Ari]

Apologies Thevshi, the disconnect between Headcase and Derwen's personalities somehow did not occur to me. I will be much more careful in future.

 

Champion being from Smallville UK is a little TOO close to Supes, but it works with the character archetype and I've no real objection to it.

 

Lucy Diamond kind of depends on being from Liverpool to hit all the buttons she does. and Liverpool isn't in Scotland. I am pretty sure about that.

 

The rest seems like a great way to spread them out!

Edited May 31, 2013 by Arichamus

[Tiffany Korta]

I was thinking that Lucy was at least from the Liverpool area and active there in the 60's, but thta after that she probably retired to a village somewhere before being discovered. Maybe a commune out Wiltshire way.

[Supercape]

Ok, time to start wrapping things up. I think we have a pretty good grasp on the old characters and the relationship map. 

 

Before we do, however, I will open this up one last time - for any personal nemesis or enemies your characters may have. 

 

Whilst these PCs are clearly in the "villain" park, the same priniciples apply - fitting them into a relationship map. They can be full on supervillains or just nasty street thugs. 

 

"Mr. Evil" is bad. "Evil" is not a motivation or character. I hope we are looking for someone with more complex motivations, such as a mercy-killing nurse with biological alteration powers, or a punk neo-luddite / environmentalist who wants to destroy industry (as two crude examples). If they can fit in with your PC, very good!

 

After you guys think about personal nemesis, we can pull this thread together and start kicking it off. 

[Thevshi]

Sadly I have not had much inspiration as yet for any personal nemesis for Synapse.  But…I had generally been thinking that her committed older sister could both serve as a point of angst for Dawn, and, occasionally, as a nemesis, should she get loose and able to use her powers.

[Ari]

Aw, I was so going to have Mr. Evil show up. *sulk*

 

So, as a pretty-low-powered vigilante man, Osprey's natural foe would either be an unscrupulous government agent/agency, or a loathed ruler of some part of England's organized crime. He's more like Man-Bat than Daredevil, a feared and vicious avenger of the night, so contrasting him with a rigid adherent to law and order might not work so well.

 

He often opposes smugglers, so a guy who leads people in that could be a good opponent. Let's say the Middleman: a ruthless underworld figure who has been responsible for several recent influxes of super-tech into the hands of criminals, even some magical artifacts. Osprey hasn't been able to make anything stick on him, and as a middleman he's very well-protected and difficult to get to in the first place.

 

A government agent could make for an interesting clash between the Ministry and some other, much more underhanded, group of operatives.

Edited June 4, 2013 by Arichamus

[Supercape]

Thats great Ari, I like the idea of some London Crime Lord with connections to the top and the bottom. What would his relationship be with Osprey? have they had previous clashes, or even partnerships? any third parties involved? how would he fit into the RM?

[Tiffany Korta]

I have a rough idea for an enemy for YB. It's a hive mind the Blank Face's who think that if everyone was the same then there would be peace. Which isn't just against Agnus's upbringing of valuing of the individual it's also against the nature of the Spirit.

 

Well I did say it was a vague idea...

[Supercape]

Its an interesting face!

 

Any idea about origin, and how it ties in with the mythology and RM?

[Ari]

What would his relationship be with Osprey? have they had previous clashes, or even partnerships? any third parties involved? how would he fit into the RM?

 

Simplest first. Osprey hates him. They've fought several times, though never with any kind of real success against each other, just hampering, though Alden figures keeping the stuff Middleman peddles off the street is a pretty big win. They'd never work together and never have had the reason to. And by the very definition of middlemen there are third parties, mostly the very mysterious Charity, who doesn't seem to be on either side.

[Thevshi]

Okay, I have worked on an Below is some descriptions for the various number coded lines connecting the various people/entities. 

 

 

1) As the government body created to address the issue of powers, the Ministry of Powers was responsible for organizing and overseeing Taskforce UK. 

2) The Ministry of Powers was also involved in overseeing the Powers Project, a group of programs intended to create powers to help protect the United Kingdom.

 

3) The Powers Project involved several sub-programs, including the Psi Initiative, the Osprey Formula, as well as others.  (We can either roughly set out other sub-programs now, or leave it generally open for future development)

 

4)The original members of Taskforce UK (or Vanguard as dubbed by the press) are: Champion, Headcase, y Dderwen, and Lucy Diamond.  (Add some stuff about their interactions/views of each other?)

 

5) Professor Thomas Blackpool was one of the scientists who helped in developing the Osprey Formula.  He was also possibly involved in other Powers Project programs.

 

6) While Catalyst was a student at HIT, Professor Blackpool was one of her key professors.  Recently, after Catalyst was fired from her job in Freedom City, Professor Blackpool (who had returned to teach at Cambridge) offered Catalyst a position as his research assistant, with the possibility she might eventually become a professor. 

 

7) As a member of the House of Lords, Lord Farrington has long been a supporter of the Ministry of Powers.  Lord Farrington also supported the Powers Project, and in particular the Psi Initiative.

 

8) Lord Farrington is a close friend of Headcase, and allowed his daughters to be part of Headcase’s Psi Initiative.

 

9) Lord Farrington’s oldest daughter, Susan, gained psychic powers as a result of the Psi Initiative.  However, those abilities made her mentally unstable.  As a result, Susan has been institutionalized, with drugs being used to help control her abilities.

 

10) Lord Farrington’s youngest daughter, Dawn (Synapse), also gained psychic abilities from the Psi Initiative, but without the terrible side effects that her sister experienced.

 

11) Synapse’s relationship with her father and mother has been very strained for some time, in large part due to their behavior since Susan was institutionalized.

 

12) Synapse dearly misses her sister, and visits her regularly.  Synapse also feels responsible for ensuring that Susan does not cause any harm should she ever get free.

 

13) Despite Headcase’s role in developing her powers, Synapse despises him, largely blaming him for what happened to her sister.

 

14) A sub-program of the Powers Project, the Osprey Formula (co-created by Professor Blackpool), was designed to turn a human into a superlative ambush fighter.  One of the volunteers for the formula was Alden Richards, who became the vigilante Osprey.

 

15) One of Osprey’s fellow Osprey Formula test subjects, Eileen Rose, was injured when Osprey initially lost control after being given the formula.  After recovering, Eileen joined a special branch of the SAS dealing with powers.

 

16) Early in his career, the Osprey encountered a creature called the Tylluan, which had avian mutations similar to his own.  The Tylluan has hinted that it was created by either the Osprey Formula or some similar Powers Project program.

 

17) In his war on the criminal underworld in the UK, the Osprey has encountered an underworld figure known as the Middleman.  Though the two have clashed a number of times, neither has achieved any really victory over the other.

 

18) Osprey has strongly admired Champion for some time, in no small part due to the hero’s work in helping Osprey’s old neighborhood in Southwark.

 

19) Geri Powell (Stone) helped Lucy Diamond return to being a superheroine, after Lucy had fallen into obscurity in the 70’s.  The two have remained close friends since.

 

20) Angus Stone (Young Britannia) grew up knowing “AuntieDiamond,†only later learning that she was a power.  After Angus became Young Britannia, Lucy Diamond helped her some with learning about her powers and how to use them.

 

21) Knowing that Angus is Young Britannia, her mother contacts her when Lucy Diamond goes missing.

 

22) As a very long lived entity with a connection to the land, y Dderwen has a long history with the spirit of Britannia, the source of Young Britannia’s powers.

 

23) ???

 

Clearly, there likely need to be some edits to the map and certainly to the descriptions of the various connections.  I tried two different means of numbering the connections, and sort of like the numbers in boxes that are intersected by the lines the best (ex: 9-23).  What about everyone else?

 

As I worked on it, one thing I thought was somewhat absent were some old foes of the old team that might turn up to plague the new team.

Edited June 7, 2013 by Thevshi

[Tiffany Korta]

Its an interesting face!

 

Any idea about origin, and how it ties in with the mythology and RM?

 

Well i thinking a psychic origin's maybe some kind of accidentally created psyhic virus. The obvious would be to link it to the Power's Projects.

[Ari]

That is some awesome work on the relationship chart, Thevshi! Thank you so much for putting it together! I'll try to come up with some stuff to make it even better.

 

As I worked on it, one thing I thought was somewhat absent were some old foes of the old team that might turn up to plague the new team.

 

 

A very good point. One of the big things about legacy heroes after all is fighting the people their predecessors did. In that spirit, I vote we either come up with a general theme that most of them fit(revenge, aliens, Camelot, political, etc...), come up with a few standouts/main evil team, or leave them for the actual threads. If you guys would prefer another way, I'll gladly defer to that.

 

One idea: quite a bit of psychic stuff going on with Dawn Farrington and a little bit with Young Britannia, so an organized gang of upper-class psionics(maybe magicians?) could be neat, sort of like a really low-grade Illuminati of political schemers trying to make things go their way in Great Britain. They could call themselves something like the Insiders.

[Ari]

Tiff, another option could be something like 'the Parity' or something else referring to equality, since that's at least their stated goal and they'd want to put emphasis on that instead of their sinister mannerisms.  

[Ari]

Also, another thing that needs consideration: should the old team have had some kind of ultimate nemesis? Somebody who was at the back of a lot of threats they defeated in the past, or a more physical opponent who fought them throughout the 20th century?

 

It's not a requirement and might end up making their world too small, but should they have one?

[Supercape]

I have no feelings on that either way to be honest. I'm not sure it really adds anything, but it doesn't really get in the way either. 

 

At the moment I am inclined to say unless it significantly adds to the relationship map, don't do it. Or rather, don't do it now. Let this stuff grow organically. I understand the urge to world-build the mythology, but I think it will be counter productive. 

[Thevshi]

Well, if there was such a major, reoccurring opponent, would not that person be near the top of the list of suspects in the old team's disappearance? 

Edited June 20, 2013 by Thevshi

[Tiffany Korta]

Well he or she disappeared as well that would confer some suspicion without derailing the plot. Maybe if we just have a name for now?

[Ari]

Sure, that could work. And that's a reasonable concern SC, I apologize for being so premature about it. It could also turn out to be a smokescreen for something else, or someone else, entirely.

 

For a name, how about something vague, like Regent or 14.

 

So as I was talking with Supercape in chat, I figured the Farrginton's butler or former butler should be involved somehow, with this as the preliminary character sketch: They used to be a spy for the British government like Headcase, but left the service after a mission in the Soviet Bloc led him to reconsider his life. He returned to England and his old love Susan, only to learn she was now Lady Farrington and married to the Lord. Getting into the family's service as head butler he helped raise Dawn and after she began rebelling against her upbringing took it upon himself to try and keep her safe on her night-time . He's all too aware of the Psi Initiative and of Dawn's emergent superpowers. Does that work for you Thevshi, or should it be edited in some way to fit better?

 

Also, Aoiroo, you want to put some more stuff in the Relationship Map for Jasmine or shall we leave that for play?

[Thevshi]

Well, for one thing Susan is Dawn's twin sister, not her mom.  I need to come up with names for her parents (well, first names that is).

 

Also not particularly keen on the "old love" angle really.  I sort of see Dawn's mother as rather vain and shallow, from some other aristocratic family.

[Aoiroo]

Know the relationship maps a thing, but having an outsider looking in might be good angle for play.

[BType]

The team should be called "The Round Table". Tell me that isn't an awesome name.

[Ari]

I am reasonably sure Ecalsneerg would stab us if we did that.

 

Anyway BType, that's not a bad idea, but the name isn't of such importance yet when so much else needs to be decided upon. We'll be sure to keep that in mind though.

 

Understood Aoiroo, no rush.

 

Thevshi, I get your meaning and apologize for mistaking Susan for Dawn's mother, which would be an awful mistake to make in real life, the lost love angle was just something I came up with off the top of my head. It IS a pretty stereotypical hook in hindsight, how about instead they went to the same clubs and such when they were the same age, and had a vagueish friendship that was much stronger on his side than hers? Your character's area of the relationship map, so feel free to dictate the relationship if you come up with something grand.