While it takes a complete detour from how Parker’s backstory is presented here, I still think it’d be cool if for nothing else to give Alycia a villainous counterpart to hold up and say “this is what they’re all afraid you’re going to turn into.”
Which ties into the Waters stuff as well, and why his treatment of Leo was the way it was. Heck, even if it’s not the basis for Parker’s story, her knowledge of Carbine as a previous cautionary tale would be noteworthy.
Not that Achilles doesn’t already sort of represent that (though with him out of the picture, it doesn’t quite have the same “current events” feel).
Funny you should mention that. From another part of another email to Doyce:
_Achilles Chin is gone. We all know that. He’s intellectually crippled (relatively speaking) and off in another dimension. And as far as the general public is concerned, he’s dead._That said, in the context of the Scion playbook …
1. … he’s a famous enough villain that, even having publicly been killed, he’s still a figure to conjure by, and one that Alycia faces an uphill battle in disassociating from (all other personal baggage aside). [Leaving aside conspiracy theories that he’s not really dead.]
2. … Chin had lieutenants, minions, bases, tech, resources … plans and schemes and things he had not yet decided to do … long games that might be coming to fruition without him (or with someone else taking over). Even dead, he still has an impact. Just because Alexander died didn’t mean the Hellenistic Era stopped; his generals divided the world and carried on until the Romans supplanted them._ Which means that Alycia can and should be dealing with the fallout of this, in her Scion role. Especially if her identity in some fashion becomes known. (be it a leak from AEGIS (or QF) or someone explicitly looking for her or even an “I’m Iron Man” moment). At which point loyalists are going to come over to her, rivals are going to see her as a threat, enemies of Chin are going to act accordingly, etc. A bit like Alycia seemed to do toward Jason when their dads were “dead.” __ That stuff plays a big role, it feels like, in the Scion arc, and I’m likely going to be trying to spark._
_3. … is Chin really dead? I can think of a dozen ways he could come back on scene, from
__escaping the Sepiaverse (and, as you noted, he’s now merely a human genius, so he’s still a threat if he nabs onto some cached resources),
__to being brought back as a puppet of Hecate’s,
__to another universe’s Achilles Chin deciding the pasture is greener here,
__to some former lieutenant posing as Chin,
__to some AI experiment that Chin shut down because he didn’t trust AI then being reactivated and acting as him or on his behalf.
_etc.
And, as I then hastened to point out. Alycia (Dave) is multiple spots back from the spotlight, certainly behind people working to get resolution on their first character, so I’m not expecting the story to be All-Alycia, All the Time by any means. Your comment just reminded me of my thoughts about how much impact Achilles Chin still has on this world.
author: *** Dave H.
url: Community Forums: Alycia redux | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop
