The Crinoverse 2 (End of Part 2)

[Crinos]

Plus, he started as a bad guy who redeemed himself through an (apparent) death.

I wonder, in the Crinoverse, were his brain patterns used for the Vision's mind? And if not, whose were?

Have not decided yet.

[Crinos]

HED! Updates

Here are some of the HED! updates and how they fit into the crinoverse.

Update for 2012



Nations

* The Red Jaguar has successfully reclaimed rulership of Nestoria, killing the reigning potentate and defeating a PHANTOM army hired by the United Nations to remove him from power. He has now declared a Pan-African relief effort and fully intends to crush against any foe who gets in his way.

As you can suspect, this has caused a bit of strain between Nestoria and Dakana. And by a bit of strain I mean cold war. The US want Red Jaguar brought in for his part in the coup, and are already looking into sending CIA metas in to take him out secretly.

Red Jaguar himself also believes he should be brought in, and is willing to turn himself in if someone proves him or herself worthy of assuming the crown of Nestoria.

Finally, with SHADOW activity increasing in Africa, various villainous forces on the continent have begun to come together to take out Nestoria and Dakana once and for all.

* Aquarius II has been chosen from the son of Aquarius and the married subordinate of one of his people, who was educated by George Timons over the past decade as a ward (but not crime fighter). Yes, his name is Arthur Dakkar and he has claimed kingship of Atlantis with the help of an unnamed group of heroes.

In the crinoverse, Aquarius II is another night of Atlantis, and is a childhood friend to Neried. Atlantis has also officially joined the UN and have their own Vanguard team.

* The Red King has been deposed from Genesis Island by the Tomorrow Society, which has set itself up on the island temporarily to help the new government survive. Mass Castle has since been demolished (though it's rebuilding). Rumors attest that the Red King is in numerous other bases, though he was briefly thought killed by Robyn Hood.

Red King was deposed after he was exposed as the mastermind behind the Freshmen Terror event despite his claims to the contrary, thanks to the actions of a group of Aces and Joker aces created by the event (Basically, this would have been the culmination of the Freshmen Terror game if it didn't die out). As a result of this, Ultiwoman has undone her heel face turn and joined the Tomorrow Society. Red King's whereabouts are currently unkown.

* Zulan successfully has begun setting up puppet nations in other realms. It has discovered orihalcon deposits (previously found only in Nestoria and Atlantis) which has made it one of the richest nations on Earth.

While on the subject, Egypt, following the recent revolution, is now directly under the control of Pharaoh Anakaris, who was forced to take control of the nation in order to prevent the Nur Sect, led by the Righteous Djinn, from taking over the nation and slaughtering countless innocents. He has begun turning Egypt into a paradise on Earth, despite objections from the UN and mystical groups on Anakaris' occupation.

* The survivors of Olympiana have founded "New Olympus" on the moon and are attempting to terraform it with magic. The United Nations, so far, does not recognize their sovereignty over it.

Needless to say, the Farsiders aren't exactly thrilled by their new neighbors, but it will take some time before the terraforming reaches farside city.

On a related subject; Dr. Prometheus and the Prometheans were forced to flee their moon base by the Sentinels and Patriots raiding Elysium. Several of the Prometheans were caught, but Prometheus himself is still at large.

* Seventh Heaven was destroyed by General Venom and Divinos has since relocated to the northernmost point of Alaska.

Zauriel was unfortunately killed during the attack, sacrificing himself to free the prisoners aboard. Thankfully he's an angel so that means he just went back to Heaven. It will be time before he can reform on Earth though.

* Otherworld's fairy courts have finally overthrown the Dark Undermaster.

This was already covered by the Breakout event.

Heroes


* Lamplighter Laws have been formalized into a "Hero Act" which firmly gives government supporting heroes a huge advantage over vigilantes and illegalizes a lot of activities. Unlike Marvel's version, it's actually very ambiguous.

* The Tomorrow Society has relocated due to their refusal to associate with the hero act and are now outlaws in the USA.

This has already been addressed with Frank Meltzer turning himself in out of protest. the Tomorrow Society have more or less turned Genesis island into the crinoverse version of Utopia. Also, they left Arnim Zola, who was being held captive by the Tomorrow Society post the finale of CSI Los Dios, at Mass castle, which means he's now working for Deaths Head, which has revived project Bio Blitzkrieg, with the intent of creating clones of the insane Lunar Mansbane King.

* Helios the Sun King has joined the Tomorrow Society despite being still listed as an archvillain.

* The Gene Nation has dissolved into numerous sub-groups. The Zealots who revere the Red King as a god, the Genetic Warriors, and the Inhuman Defense Force.

Another faction of Gene Nation to emerge is the group Abysus, which is under the leadership of the Evo Van Kleiss. Set in a mutated wasteland which was the site of a mass release of nanites. Van Kleiss has recently mutated, and how has the power to turn people and creatures into Evos with a touch.

* The Steel Commando has founded a sub-team called the Iron Corps, a team of Foundation armored heavy-hitters.

* Eugene Timons has been adopted and gone on to become Black Wing III, changing his costume to hide the change. This is actually part of Alexander Timons larger campaign as he's recruited "other" Black Wings to assist his efforts.

* With Serena Mass' help, Frankenstein has bound the spirit of Doctor Frankenstein and become a member of the Tomorrow Society.

Now that the Doctor is out of the picture, Frankenstein himself has stabilized more; He once again gives off a facade that lets him pass for human, he no longer suffers constant torment, and he can use transmutations again. The problem is that he's started causing Disquiet again, but Madam Tomorrow has designed a spell that dampens this effect by having her absorb the disquiet herself. This causes Serena incredible amounts of pain and may drive her insane at some point, but she's willing to endure it till a better solution is found.

* Mordred has joined the Tomorrow Society as well, which has done WONDERS for their reputation.

* Ultimatum and Valkyrie have graduated the Tomorrow Academy. Ultimatum has since left the group to join the Patriots while Valkyrie remains the new team-leader.

Villains

* Battle Czar has conquered a portion of Romania and become dictator of that realm, forming a new communist utopia based on Mithan technology. This is after his exposure as the Red Spider. It's called East Wallachia.

In the crinoverse, Battle Czar actually took over the Burning Protectorate, by capturing the Czar and locking him in a breeder reactor under his castle. He has very vocally announced he plans to conquer Ruritania next and rid the world of Phantom once and for all.

* Dragon Industries has been completely dismantled by the Russian government with the Foundation's help, thanks to an unnamed group of superheroes.

The hero group was in fact the Avengers; After two defeats at their hands, it was enough to inspire enough confidence in his vampiric rivals for them to make a move, Now Dracula is hiding out in Castlevania, absorbing power and planning for a third run on the Avengers.

* The Brotherhood of Thieves has been formed as sort of a cat-burglar society which has a classicist 99% motivation (despite its members being quite rich).

* The Secret Society of Assassins has broken away from the Black Hand, being devoted to killing for pay but also possessing a code of honor that the Iron Khan doesn't have.

* Ares has returned to the Earth, once more fostering war and destruction across the Earth along with Pestilence, Commerce, and Thanatos.

* The International Crime League has broken up into several rival factions because, you know, criminals. Ganglord Gorilla has had his brain transplanted into a new hulking human body but has no more control over it.

You can thank Taurus for this one; he manipulated Geese Howard into trying to make a run at Ganglord Gorilla, and it eventually lead into a civil war that broke the organization apart. This is causing chaos all over, as places which were once off limits are now fair game and places once under firm control by the ICL are being hotly contested.

* General Venom has gone missing, being replaced with a charismatic arms dealer and sociopath Jack Washington III. He's currently CEO of SpartaCorp since Kenneth Kane was forced to flee the country.

Yeah, Kenneth Kane's petty dickishness finally caught up with him. He is currently running Ruritania full time.

* The Dark Undermaster managed to recover the Book of Orkus and used it to forge the Armor of Orkus, which he's used to seize Merlin's lair and become Earth's Supreme Magnus. Merlin is currently missing. A cult has started to him in Ruritania.

In the crinoverse, Undermaster wandered the earth trying to get his powers back, when he ended up in Cauldron Lake, where the evil entity beneath the lake (actually a portion of the Darkness beyond time itself) tried to enslave him to write him to freedom. Unlike Alan Wake however, the Undermaster once again proved himself the biggest bastard in the room and wrote himself into the darknesses master. He's now planning to use this to destroy the Tomorrow Society once and for all and retake Faerie and the rest of the Imageria.

* The Elite has been cancelled with minor fanfare with Mighty Man now working for the US government.

* The Aesir has since debuted in their place, being composed of Norse gods.

The Aesir consists of Thor, Heimdall, Frey and Freya, Sif, and Uller. They operate out of Los Dios, and were rivals to Frank and Holly Meltzer prior to the hero act. It is likely they will also butt heads with the Avengers due to their recent alliance with Loki.

* The Psychotic Seven is now the Psychotic Five and more likely to disintegrate further.

In addition to the departure of Red Jaguar, Jack Union has met an unfortunate (?) end at the end of Cameo, channelling the spirit of Blythe Van Renssaeler, during an attack on the Large Hadron collider, Blythe reprogrammed the collider to turn Unions gravity power on himself, crushing him into a singularity. Unions remains weigh about ten tons, and are small enough to fit on the head of a pin.

* The Iron Khan has removed the Black Hand and his section of PHANTOM from the group, splitting it in half.

He's still keeping the modern tech the Khanate donated to him and the nukes. He's a dick like that.

* Death Mask III is actually directly behind PHANTOM's woes as he believes he'll be able to dominate the world much easier with a smaller support group around him.

PHANTOM's loss is SHADOW's gain, as they've been snatching up all of PHANTOM's lost resources in an effort to build itself back up.

[Arthur Eld]

Cool stuff.

Where would Doc Canus and the rest of the Menagerie (from Gestalt) fall with the sundering of Gene Nation?

[Crinos]

Cool stuff.

Where would Doc Canus and the rest of the Menagerie (from Gestalt) fall with the sundering of Gene Nation?

They too have become their own faction again, made up of meta powered animals, animal gestalts, and others. They've also become more vicious and brutal in regards to dealing with humans now that Red King isn't there to restrain them.

[Yeoman]

* The Aesir has since debuted in their place, being composed of Norse gods.

The Aesir consists of Thor, Heimdall, Frey and Freya, Sif, and Uller. They operate out of Los Dios, and were rivals to Frank and Holly Meltzer prior to the hero act. It is likely they will also butt heads with the Avengers due to their recent alliance with Loki.

Quite possibly another group I'll be writing up after the current Chivengers arc.

[Charles Phipps]

Awesome stuff, Crinos.

I'll get to my thoughts on all of it in a bit.

The Alan Wake bit was inspired.

It reminds me of a eerily similar thing when, of all people, the Dark Undermaster was one of those people immune to Silent Hill. "One needs a conscience for the creatures there to torment."

[Yeoman]

Idea that popped into my head while thinking about DC books I'd love to read but know would never in a million years get made. Submitted for your approval:


New Warriors 2.0

While the new warriors as a show failed, and the team went it's various ways, some people thought the idea of traveling heroes that go to places that rarely saw a super-hero was pretty good. So when the New Warriors as a show shut down, the website remained active, and a new team traveling the country from their far more beaten up Winnebago were born.

The Black Bat

Cassandra Cain is the daughter of international assassin David Cain, and Kung Fu legend Lady Shiva. Raised from birth by her father to be the world's ultimate Assasin, Cassandra ultimately decided to leave the life of a killer and has devoted herself to protecting others.

One of the single most skilled martial arts practitioners on the planet, Cassandra also uses a limited utility belt, and is adept at reading body movements to predict what her opponent is going to do.

Spoiler

Stephanie Brown, daughter of second rate super-villian and dead-beat dad, The Cluemaster, originally took to crime fighting as a form of revenge against her absentee father. Over time, she spread out to more general heroic adventuring.

By far the least well trained of the group, Stephanie is the most technically inclined (though that's not saying much), and probably the most sensible of the group. She mostly gets by on a mixture of common sense, wits, and second hand super-hero gadgets she buys online.

Wildcat II/Catgirl

Holly Robinson was the protege of World War II crimefighter and Justice Society member Ted Grant, the original Wildcat. Though Grant is still around through a combination of clean living, the odd magical adventure he's not sure what happened on, and shear orneriness, he's helped train a lot of non-powered adventurers and helped teach a lot of self defense classes over the years. Holly was just one of his favorites.

Unlike a lot of non-powered costumed adventurers, Holly gets by on just being able to take a hit, something anyone that spars with Ted Grant would need to do. Life's been hard to her, and she's learned to be tough. Holly uses a combination of acrobatics, and hard punches. She has also been known to use a whip from time to time.

Detective Chimp

Formerly a master sleuth of Gorilla City, Detective Chimp has left his reclusive homeland to see the world. And ended up hooking up with three friends who never quite saw recognition as heroes. Still, he likes them, they put up with his sarcastic wit, and he does get to travel.

Detective Chimp, as one might imagine, is a detective, and the brains of the group. He is also a talking chimpanzee. This leads to him being far stronger than most people would suspect on the rare occasions he's forced to engage in combat.



Well, sirs?

[Arthur Eld]

Although it might have been retconned away by now, I recall that Stephanie Brown is still dead in the Crinoverse, and is the current host of the Spectre.

The others look pretty cool though. I actually really like Cassie's Black Bat costume.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Just for mental picture-needs is this Boston accent comic Detective Chimp or British accent Brave and the Bold Detective Chimp?

[Crinos]

I can have Stephanie come back to life, not problem.

[Arthur Eld]

Well then, that only begs the question of who the next Spectre will be.

[Yeoman]

Although it might have been retconned away by now, I recall that Stephanie Brown is still dead in the Crinoverse, and is the current host of the Spectre.

The others look pretty cool though. I actually really like Cassie's Black Bat costume.

Thanks.

Just for mental picture-needs is this Boston accent comic Detective Chimp or British accent Brave and the Bold Detective Chimp?

Given it's voice, I'd go with with whichever you like.

I can have Stephanie come back to life, not problem.

Whatever works. this was mostly just an idea I had. Mostly it was just the idea of the three under-utilized members of the bat Faimly that got screwed over by the DCnU. I wanted one or two more people, and Detective Chimp kinda fit for some reason. I thought about adding Traci 13 for magic expertise.

Feel free to make it canon though.

[Yeoman]

Well then, that only begs the question of who the next Spectre will be.

Crispus Allen?

[EnigmaticOne]

The Order of the Stick

Mel Grimson, aka Relentless, despite his rough upbringing on the mean streets of Chicago, had some friends in his youth. One of them was the beautiful yet capable and dangerous Haley Simon, who did have a bit of a fixation on the classic fantasy rogue. Also part of the street gang they ran in was Roy Green, Elan Remus, Dirk Stone and Vick Melvin. It was Haley that somehow managed to encourage everyone in the group to adopt some fantasy names on the street... ridiculous, but it became cred once they'd kicked the butts of the gangs around.

Roy, the tall black smart but strong leader, was named Roy Greenhilt, Elan became Elan the Bard, Vick Vaarsuvius, the short, squat Dirk renamed Dirkon Thundershield, and Mel, shorter at the time due to a late growth spurt was nicknamed Belkar Bitterleaf as if he was a halfling. Haley chose the last name of Starshine. Though limited on actual fantasy power, (though Elan did have low-level metaman sound powers) the group was tenacious enough to have a few interesting inner-city adventures...

Mostly against gangs and a few surprising instances of Imageria goblins and the like creeping in- the Order of the Stick had their fun... until Nale and Tarquin made their way onto the scene.

Tarquin Remus was a lieutenant of Augustus Roman, whose affair with a bar waitress had ended with them taking their twins seperately, leaving Nale, Elan's twin, in the hands of Tarquin. Initially, Nale's intent to gain control over the Chicago underworld was inadvertently foiled by the Order of the Stick, leading to repeated attempts by Nale to deal with the Order. In time, Tarquin intervened, claiming bad blood between him and Nale.

Unfortunately, Nale's third and final attempt was semi-successful, as Tarquin had lied and back-stabbed the group by shooting Roy dead. In the wake of this tragic incident, the group really split off and went different ways. Dirk became a priest, Vick disappeared into the occult subculture, looking for true magic that could have helped save Roy, and Haley and Elan, now lovers, went off on a rogue's spree.

Mel was the most hurt by the incident, helping to fuel his submersion into criminality. But nothing gave him more pleasure years later, than when he found Nale by happenstance and beat the now-crime lord to death with his own hands.

Though Mel and Haley/Elan may be the ones with most contact over the years, who knows what would cause the Order to reform?

[Yeoman]

Nale wouldn't work well in Chicago. I really can't see him lasting in Marcone's territory. Between him and Goldie Musso, dude would be in Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over his head.