Phase Two Endgame - POLL/FEEDBACK!

So what I’m hearing is I nailed it first time

Go me :grin:

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Oh, there was more than name stuff. :crazy_face:

re Jenny

I feel little ownership of the character since she was a backstory figure with no dialog, as I recall. So speaking just from my impression of what we’ve seen …

… she’s been fine, but not compelling. She kind of orbits around “annoying opponent who causes the protagonist problems, but more heartburn than existential dread”. The Irish Lilt is a bit grating, too, if only because it doesn’t feel authentic, in part because she’s not “authentic” because she’s a force-growth clone.

I feel like there’s really some tragedy and drama there, around her background, her indoctrination / programming, her sense of (in)humanity. I think, she could jump in any direction, but I feel like her arc really is pointing her toward ending up on her own side – with a lot of sympathy from Jason, disdain from Alycia(s), jealousy all around, and plenty of room for future appearance.

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To riff off of my other idea, those epithets could also suffer from escalation as time goes on.

“There are those who called me Sinister …”
“Um, didn’t you call yourself that, Boss?”
“Silence!! But I am more than just Sinister. Henceforth, the world will tremble at the thought of the Splendiferous Doctor Sidorov!”
“Um, Boss, how do you spell --”
“SILENCE!”

Does Zola actually use “Doctor?” I think he usually ends up (post-self-operative days) with a full first-last. “That face … in the computer consoles … Arnim Zola!” But your point remains valid.

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That’s exactly what I wrote her to become, so that’s gratifying. She’s also trolling/teasing Jason with the Irish accent at this point, it’s not an always-on thing.

So Pyrrhus, Poppet, and Doctor Sidorov it is. Thanks folks :slight_smile:

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Next up, three questions for @Dave

  • who is Alycia’s mother?
  • does she know and/or care?
  • do you care?

While I know the question was directed to Dave, I know this bit of fiction exists which concerns Alycia’s parentage, which partially answers that second question.

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And now the questions for @insomn14

  • under what circumstances did Adam acquire his original Concordance shard?
  • why was it considered inferior or defective?

(oh cool, I have art to help answer this question)

So when Solaris first came to Earth, they needed a host. Adam was just the first acceptable host he ran into. It was in the middle of the night, so Adam was asleep when Sol offered him the power. Adam, being partially asleep and thinking it was a dream didn’t really think any of this through. And then he had an energy being burrow into his soul and there’s not really any mistaking that for a dream.

The rest of this is just broad strokes story bits that I have noodled on a bit. The reason the Concordance sent Sol to Earth was due to some enemies of the Concordance coming to Earth and the Concordance needed a local champion to fend them off. Once Adam was empowered, those aliens kidnapped him (and his parents saw that part, which is what I imagine soured Mama Amari on anything having to do with superhero-stuff going forward).

Once in the alien ship, Sol teaches Adam the basics of being a Concordance agent on an escape from the ship. Somewhere along the way, the aliens do something to disrupt Sol (which is why he is broken during the first quarter of the Menagerie game) and Adam has to disrupt the aliens’ plans on his own. (That’s about all I got, I’ve only thought this through enough to make three pictures.)

So the Concordance keeps sending shards to Earth and they keep disappearing. Concord’s is Solaris Gamma-Two and the Trio’s is Solaris Game-Four, which also leaves One and Three unaccounted for. After this bit of fiction, I like to think the Dread Moor has one of them captured somehow. And Sablestar is likely involved in the other one (or possibly both) going missing.

And with the Concordance’s usual smug superiority, it cannot be their fault this keeps happening, it must be something about Earth. So after not hearing back from the first three, they stopped sending Shards to Earth until they got Sol’s destruction signal, which led to them sending SG4 to Earth to investigate. That’s also why they split SG4 between three different people to try and add a bit more protection this time.

So because when SG4 met Concord, it had to be the inferiority of that shard’s manufacture or malice on the part of Adam that could lead to its destruction and giving its power to Adam. Concordance shards don’t go native and sacrifice themselves for the good of their chosen world, they are eternal guardians who must be preserved for the ongoing continuity of the power of the Virtues.

So short answer: Concordance lies and propaganda.

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What makes a host acceptable?

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Hearts imbued with high levels of the Virtues, with minimal amounts of interfering emotions (fear, dishonesty, and hate). For this reason, younger (and more naïve) hosts are preferable.

I always left this unanswered, to leave some mystery (about both her and Achilles), and a plot element to establish by whomever could come up with something spiffy.

It’s one of the few things (as the reference Mike found indicates) that Achilles ever expressed any regret about.

My vague sense was that she was someone Achilles truly thought he loved, and, at some point, realized it was either her or the Great Mission, and chose the latter. (Did she leave him, after an ultimatum? Did he send her away – keeping the kid – when he decided she was too much of a distraction, too much of a weakness, too great a temptation to compromise? Did she have to die because she was visiting her Mom in Bhopal when that particular Great Mission event happened? The tragic story possibilities are practically endless.)

It all begs the question of what sort of person would get so close to Achilles Chin / Achilles Chin allow to get so close. A brilliant mind? An innocent?

Alycia is curious, certainly – but she’s forcibly separated herself, emotionally, from being “child of her parent” enough that it isn’t an obsession for her.

Of course, emotional calm can be suddenly shattered by an abruptly changed circumstance. If she were to suddenly come face to face with someone claiming to be her mother … she would be incredibly guarded, but would absolutely have major questions for her.

As implied above, I care, but I don’t have a commitment to any particular answer. Indeed, a really interesting answer that up-ends the above narrative would also be cool.

Ultimately, I left those details blank (even to myself) for a reason, and with the understanding that they would quite possibly be filled in by someone else. If the answer remains a mystery, or is answered with something interesting and fun that informs or even evolves the character, that’s all good.

(I might have something to say about the Achilles Chin / Hecate slash-fic, though.)

An Antibody? :smiley:

I am cooking something up that I hope you’ll enjoy. Based on this, I’ll move forward with it!

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Or … maybe I got the different sides of the equation wrong …

Avatar - azula strongest couple

(Achilles: “If the Great Mission never succeeds, I will have been a failure in life. But by stopping her, I have had one success for humanity that I can carry to my grave.”)

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With Phase 2 wrapping up, and Phase 3 starting probably in a couple months, I want to see what @Dave and @insomn14 think about carrying over some of our P2 supporting cast.

Aside from villains, which of the following people would you like to see more of?

  • Ji-a Lee (Leo’s mother)
  • Inspector Lee Yan (Alycia’s mother)
  • Mirror Alycia (Pyrrhus’ nanotech creation)
  • Daphne Palin (priestess of Palamedes)
  • Other (please provide details)

0 voters

My Other vote is for Dr. Sidorov, but mostly for the lolz.

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He’s a villain so definitely will be appearing :+1:

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So I will always take Daph action.

I don’t remember much about Leo’s mom, so that’s probably a good idea.

I’d love to see some Lee Yan stuff – she’s a fascinating character. But I would minimize the connection to Alycia, narratively – it’s a story about her, not about her relationship with Alycia. Except when it suddenly is.

Mirror Alycia is always a hoot.

I guess I voted for everyone. Go figure.

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So I feel like there’s interest in Phase 3, which will be +1 year from the Invisible Invasion. I don’t know what’ll happen after that (although a Young Menagerie team, with characters like Princess Peri in the roster, would be fun). I’m doing planning for this, and will probably start writing in a couple months.

The goal of P3 is entirely original IP, no Magpie stuff, partially so Mike can work on Sentinels cards unencumbered, partially because I prefer working with fresh stuff.

Within that constraint, if there’s stuff anyone wants to see, other than characters, let me know. This can include plotlines, tones, genres, crossovers (“more Pidgeverse! Gun Club guest stars!”), whatever.

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No, you do not get to turn my jokes into actual things. I mean unless you want to. And they’re cool. :stuck_out_tongue:

:+1: Not that I’m ever upset about getting the file out to take to the serial numbers.

I mean, now that you bring it up it would be interesting to see Pidgeverse become canon (More canon? Not sure how those side stories work into the greater continuity.)

Plus, I always liked this design for Pidgeverse Concord and her power of “become giant space woman”.

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I think I have a pretty good track record here.

So the comics are canon in broad strokes. There really was a sleepover, the Pidgeverse visits happened, and so on. Specific moments that were clearly just setups for jokes probably didn’t happen like that, but something roughly like it may have happened. I didn’t refer to them except for the occasional reference, but I’m happy to wind them in if the audience is interested!

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