Halt Evil Doer! thread IV - (Zombies!)

[Charles Phipps]

I quite enjoyed Freehold.

As for being relatively quiet, I'm sort of in a contemplating phase as to what I need to do to jumpstart my writing efforts, as my recovery continues. My mental fatigue and then full blown illness reduced my enthusiasm and energy over the past year, with the preceeding twelve months being diffcult as well, with my wife's illnes and the death of my father-in-law (who was a really great guy).

I'll be back in short order no doubt.

All my best.

Take your time, friend.

*gives him a manly pat on the back*

[Charles Phipps]

Hamilton University

Hamilton University, the Harvard of the Weird.

Hamilton University is one of the oldest institutions in the United States, having been founded before the Revolutionary War by immortal necromancer Randolf Curwen. Curwen University was renamed, however, due to the fact that its original alumni ended up being implicated in black mass rituals. In a surprising bit of foresight they left Randolf's considerable occult library alone. Later, many alumni left their own expanded selection of supernatural texts.

The library, for the most part, is fairly harmless. You're more likely to find a vast catalog of demon types, the ecology of the Penanggalan, and maps of Mammaloth's lost pyramids than you are to finding books on how to summon the various evil creatures most wizards desire to. These things exist, unfortunately, but most are locked away in the special collection.

Randolf was also intelligent enough to keep his actual spellbooks hidden, encoded with a cipher to appear as ledgers for his business. Despite this, the Hamilton Library has no less than a dozen pages from the Book of Orkus and several insane texts written from individuals attempting to decipher how to use them - God help them.

Unlike Mass Castle, Hamilton University doesn't really have any overt signs of its supernatural heritage and is more creepy than magical. The vines are overgrown and smell vaguely unclean while the mortar is always crumbling even on the new buildings. Shadows have a little too much substance and there is a dreariness that clings to everything. The university's fraternities are mixtures of close knit secret societies and outright cults while its classes include such cheery topics as "The Black Death" and "Witchcraft of the 17th century."

A big irony is the majority of these spooky classes go in one ear and out the other of the students. They're taken less for the chance to learn about the bleaker chapters of human history and more for the credits. It does, however, mean that the majority of college-educated Freeholders have a surprising knowledge of depressing subjects.

Part of the issue is that its more supernaturally inclined professors believe outright in the "Things man was not meant to know" adage. They do not believe that the general public is ready to know about magic and while they're the best resource in the nation about "proven" magic, they tend to do their best to hide it from all but the worthiest individuals. They may be correct in this as a staggering number of prospective students come looking for knowledge about how to summon demons or bend souls to their will. The peculiar aura around the city undoubtedly tends to attract a darker sort than most, anyway.

Ironically, they're working at cross-purposes with the less magically orientated staff. The sciences department are filled with individuals determined to disprove magic through all manner of biological and physics-based experiments. The rate of disasters with these experiments from Living Mummies to Electrical Ghosts to Wolfweres is pretty high. Contrary to what you'd think, these dramatic results just cause more attention to be paid to their findings.

There's actually a somewhat hilarious pool between students of FIT and Hamilton University over who produces the most supervillains. Hamilton is currently in the lead due to the fact that they have the works of Doctor Henry Moreau on file but FIT would pull in the lead if it was known how many House of Serpents mercenaries got their start as poorly paid alumni.

The John Smith Society also makes it a point to EMPLOY plenty of people from these locals even if they don't educate them. Doctor Aeon, himself, was a graduate of Hamilton University for approximately six of his seventeen Doctorates.

Hamilton University has an extremely well-funded anthropology department and is infamous for sending its manned expeditions off into the lost corners of the Earth to document ancient civilizations. Hamilton University frustrates many news reporters and documentarians due to the fact that, for whatever reason, most of its professors are more interested in rare spiders found in the lost cities they uncover than the lost cities themselves. This may help explain why janitors finding ancient powerful medallions in the basement is a common occurrence (though, frankly, you'd be amazed at what's in the basement of most regular museums and universities).

The pride of the anthropology department is, of course, Reggie the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. While the Freehold zoo has living dinosaurs due to Hamilton-funded expeditions to the Hollow Earth, Reggie remains the largest specimen ever discovered. Reggie, of course, has been animated on several occasions only to be pummeled him back into extinction. Expect quite a few howls every time this occurs as the teams are meticulous about making sure he goes back to his original state.

Hamilton University has a thriving athletics program almost in spite of the vast resources poured into its odder subjects. The Freehold Razorbacks are not exactly blowing away the competition from Falconcrest and New Amsterdam, however. Still, the student body tries and they've been said to have one of the best cheerleading sections in the nation. Ironically, despite their teams usually sucking.

Just off the campus, still serving coffee is, the Cup of Joe cafe. Ink Spot's original cafe from the 1940s, it remains owned and operated by Noah and Joel's cousins. The place doesn't really have much in the way of supernatural or oddball influences but superheroes get their drinks free. No one knows, exactly, how they know but it just happens. This is due to the fact there's gremlins in the back.

Seriously.

No, you can't see them.

[Libra]

The execution of the previous Congress of the House has resulted in a great deal more activity in the area.

In this case I suspect that 'Activity' translates as Explosions, Assassinations, Kidnappings, Terror, Revenge and Extortion. If I'm wrong ... well, I'm so confident that I'm not that I won't even make a bet concerning some incredible forefeit if I am!

The new Congress is almost uniformly JWIII's cronies but they're also less intelligent than Jack Washington II's picks.

Doubtless JW III hand-picked them to make QUITE sure of this (given that even if they try stabbing him in the back they're far less likely to succeed than he is to survive). You might as well call this the 'Iron Khan' approach to Mastermind/Hechman relations.

Hehehe, a very good one.

Well Anglesey has always struck me as the perfect Our World vacation spot for all those Celtic Eternals who grumble about how touristy Stonehenge has become these days!

Amusingly, my original write-up had Belial driven off by Saint Patrick but I was worried people would wonder why I was confusing the Welsh and Irish.

It WOULD be terribly amusing if Padraig kicked him out of first Wales and then Ireland, wouldn't it.

Incidentally circa the life of St Patrick, the distinction between Welsh and Irish was being energetically blurred by Irish pirates, raiders and migrants (rather like proto-Vikings with a bit of a brogue).

Freehold is one of the cases where not much persecution of the local Native Americans occurred.

Doubtless the age-old realisation that "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend" and the arrival of an ENEMY more than big enough to band together all Humankind against it if they but knew played a part in bringing about this happy state of affairs.

Freehold is noteworthy as something of a safe-harbor for people and one of the places where racism has never quite been the same as in the rest of the country.

I'd guess that the long history of intermarriage induced by the notorious examples of inbreeding produced in Lowtown played it's part in this longstanding tradition of tolerance - one imagines some ancienct local by-law to the effect of "Residents may marry whomsoever they please, if they be not Macneers" being exploited to the fullest.

The Confederacy actually intended to burn the place down like Atlanta according to some sources.

According to at least one Conspiracy Theory some of the extraordinary individuals serving with the forces of the CSA tried to do just that in retaliation for Sherman's March to the Sea, being only just prevented from co-operating with certain locals disgruntled with the toll taken by the War Effort to do just that.

The Macneers, ironically, eventually faded from prominence occult-wise due to its inbred nature.

Doubtless all those Blood Rites stopped working when the Entities being summoned realised that when you'd tasted one MacNeer you'd tasted them all!

Unsurprisingly, many of these went on to become the servants of the Mass family when they arrived from Germany with Count Reich II.

Doubtless Count Reich II insisted on making bad fish puns when dealing with his local lackies.

Saint Alyssa, of course, was a WIDOW and not nearly as sheltered as Michael thought.

Doubtless helped that fine lady see through yon fellow's charismatic charm to his absolute lack of scruple - I believe that a later historian described him best when they observed that "He presented to the public scrutiny that rare combination of anti-hero and gentleman-villain best summed up by his job description: Pirate. The reader will be pleased to note that the O'Hara family has changed but little since their second most notorious forebear."

Although to be fair the O'Hara clan has produced both Anti-Heroes, Anti-Villains and those who combined in their persons elements of both over the generations. That's what keeps Freehold society so interesting!

Amusingly, Saul King originally came to the haunted town because he was interested in taking a vacation from all of the craziness in Scotland.

Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, old Saul King had been across the length and breadth of the British Isles during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (of which sequence of conflicts The English Civil War wasn't even the first, although it remains the best-known), with a few diversions to more obscure destinations.

After all, how haunted could the New World be with its settlement only several decades? Surely, the natives were too pure from their association with God's natural world to summon demons as the Ancient Romans did.

Saul ended up getting approximately two brews together before all hell broke loose.

Small beer, to be precise, the period's equivelent of non-alcoholic beer (although amusingly Saul King actually campaigned against the drinking of water with the same conviction and energy later generations of puritan brought to the Temperance Leagues).

The actual two Founding fathers who WERE crazy Illumainti-types were mostly notable for raising money for the Continental Army and being weirdos the other Founding Fathers enjoyed.

Mostly because they kept handing them money and some VERY interesting ideas.

The third member from Freehold, Seamus O'Hara, rivaled Sam Addams for the ability to pack it down and inflicted fairly devastating casualties on the British navy.

He was also eventually hung as a pirate since he never got around to getting US approval as a privateer after the war. Freeholders take a perverse sort of pride in his being the only Founding Father to be hung as a criminal.

Well, hanged because he'd never got that approval AND because he was crazy enough to try his luck in battle against a commander who'd actually been paying attention to stories of his exploits, then worked out from them a strategy to beat O'Hara that actually worked - it involved Q-Ships and a NASTY surprise for Mr. O'Hara.

Suffice to say the British were actually fairly cordial towards the colonists and the kinds of atrocities depicted in Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" didn't often occur save at the hands of Hessian mercenaries and the rare local colonial nutter.

Ironically this didn't actually help them all that much in the Freehold area, given that it had been solidly Patriot even before the balloon went up on the Revolutionary War.

Captain Crown, however, committed numerous atrocities that would have gotten him hung if not for the fact he was good at greasing palms and blaming Indians.

Captain Crown, being one of that breed of 'rare colonial nutter' and a true obsessive - the historical record shows that his atrocities were more impressive in quality than quantity, but that need not improve your opinion of the fellow. Karl Mueller could tell you some stories about this particular fanatic, if they didn't turn even his cast-iron stomach a little.

Ironically the only surviving portrait of the man shows that he looked more like Adam Baldwin than Jason Isaacs.

Karl was a hell-raiser indeed during his mortal life and guilty of quite a number of hell-worthy offenses. Oddly, he was still better than many of his mortal fellows. Probably because Karl would kill you if you annoyed him and burn down your house but didn't really make a business of it.

Or to put it another way, it was always personal with him, rather than business (even if he DID accept payment for the privilege of killing those who got in his way, mostly to keep him in beer and wenches).

Really, you can't blame Karl for the above, which isn't true. Karl was more of a man who pushed the envelope by dating sisters or women who worked in the same tavern, not seducing every young woman in Freehold like hes' depicted as.

It's not that he didn't find the idea appealing, but all that campaigning and boozing didn't leave him nearly as much time for wenching as he would have liked (hence all those time-saving two-in-one incidents).

In fact, the forty were children dedicated to Belial by the Illuminati hoping to form a new nation to rival Europe. They were "touched" by hellish magic and went on to form many families involved in the Order of the 9th Circle and Entropic Master cults but didn't hold Belial's own blood.

Not forgetting the more mundane majority who went on to become merely powerful (and frequently corrupt) local traders and politicians: amusingly even this specially-branded band of Hellbound Brothers (and Sisters) didn't produce more than one REAL monster for every ten members.

On the other hand the six members who became REAL monsters were more than enough to persuade the local White Witches to look for somewhere to settle ANYWHERE else. Rumour has it that it took a team-up between an aging Saul King and a newly-arrived Azrael to do something about 'The Devil's Hand.'

Of course, unlike HBO's current series about Atlantic City, Ronnie was a descendant of pirates and knew how to slit throats on occasion.

Doubtless he also possessed the much rarer quality of knowing when NOT to cut throats, even in the face of intense provocation.

Needless to say, organized crime is still a big force in the city. Likewise, the city is pretty divided along ethnic and location lines.

One conceives the amusing mental image that the 'Location' line is more solid than the 'Ethnic' line - because for all the enthusiastic embrace of Old World Traditions in their free time current amongst a certain sort of citizen, inter-marriage tends to be the rule, rather than the exception for Freehold (which only makes the part-time brigade even MORE vociferous about their unique heritage - as an old local saying goes "There's no Irish more Irish than the Freehold Irish, especially when they're half-english!").

Literally hundreds of superheroes have actually existed in Freehold's 250+ year history, the vast majority of them magic users. Roughly around the 1930s onward, however, the city has produced a steady number of science-based heroes.

Then there are the likes of the most unique local franchise, who are just white-collar scientists trying to make money blue-collar style (and getting paid to kick the supernatural in the nuts in the process!). You know their theme, even if they did kinda 'borrow' it from the film which gave them the idea in the first place:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oznj6AFeiRE

The fae that DO arrive, interestingly, are much more traditional than the wide variety you'll find in Los Dios.

Los Dios being the place one visits if one wants to MAKE a myth, while Freehold is the place one goes to when one wants to LIVE out your own: Traditionalist Fae tend to visit Freehold because those with an inkling of the True World there tend to react in the approved, traditional courtesy/raw terror/trickery on their lips, rather than "You're doing it wrong!".

[Libra]

I'll be back in short order no doubt.

I hope that things pick up for you soon old chap.

Please accept my best wishes alongside Charles'.

[Charles Phipps]

Stain I, Stain II, and Bloodstain

There is nothing more infuriating than jumping at the call only to find out that the call was looking for someone else.

Moses Stein is the great-grandson of Jenny Sprockets and Ink Spot, just the same as Joel and Noah. Unlike Joel and Noah, childhood friends, his parents treasured their superheroic ancestry. They raised Moses with the belief that one man could make a difference, all that it took for evil to triumph was good men to do nothing, blah blah blah. At the age of twenty-five, Moses was researching Annihilation Zone energy in hopes of duplicating his ancestors' ring.

Then his cousins discovered their ancestor's ring and unlocked their shadow-powers. Here's where fate was just CRUEL. Had Moses just gone to his cousins with his suspicions and asked to be let in on it, they would have shared the ring with him. The really insane part? Most likely, they would have discovered the ring is a placebo and capable of permanently granting shadow-slinging powers to anyone who wore it. Well, anyone of Ink Spot's bloodline, at least.

Instead, Moses felt cheated and angry that his cousins refused to come clean with him (their identities were plainly obvious to anyone who knew what to look for, after all). Moses decided to continue his research and ended up being recruited by a disguised Doctor Necros to create a replica of their ring.

Given the original ring was invented by a Thran scientist using technology sixty-five million years more advanced (Thran are ***** scientists due to their relentless warmongering and strict adherence to idealogy but that's still a lot), it's an accomplishment he got as close as he did.

The duplicate ring gave him all the abilities of Splotch and Ink plus super-strength besides. Unfortunately, it also infused his mind with Annihilaton Zone radiation and drove him as mad as Doctor Necros. Even worse, the ring exploded and infused his body with a THING from another reality, one which turned his jealousy into a full-blown split personality. Moses began to believe that his brothers sabotaged his experiment and had tried to murder him. Stain, thus, vowed revenge on the "evil" brothers.

During the Iron Age, Stain briefly merged with the Shadow Demon and only killed "evil" people in a list that rapidly expanded from its original definition of rapists and murderers. This "Dark Defender" period of his life is considered the absolute ebon of superheroism in Heroic Earth, even lower than the Psychotic Seven coup since people were actually cheering Stain on despite his numerous past atrocities.

Ultimately, it ended when Stain joined the Psychotic Seven's coup and nearly murdered the President's children before Moses shattered the Shadow Demon's control (assisted by a hefty beating from Splotch).

Moses has regained lucidity several times since then. Uniformly, his reaction to the dozens of murders he's committed has been one of horror and remorse. He's even attempted to commit suicide, believing his actions to be the result of the Shadow Demon inside him. Sadly, each time, his split-personality has kicked in and rescued him from death. A few times it's even manifested supernatural powers beyond those of his normal abilities, such as a healing cocoon.

What's especially tragic is Moses' family has suffered tremendously for their actions. While their identities are still secret, the Stein family is as known for producing Stain as anyone else. Worse, Moses was newly married with a baby when he became Stain and his wife has been harassed by the Shadow Demon repeatedly. Several of Stain's former victims have also come after them, hoping to either hurt him by harming his family or using them to lure the monster out.

Currently, Moses has managed to seemingly rid himself of the Shadow Demon and his powers. He's converted to Christianity, much to the disgust of his family, and is presently free due to the ample evidence he wasn't responsible for his crimes. Splotch, unlike Black Wing, is genre savvy enough to believe that the other show is going to drop every second.

He thinks Stain is going to return at any minute to murder both his brother and himself. Obviously, Moses' family wants nothing to do with him either. Moses, of course, wants to atone for his crimes and is presently seeking out heroes to assist him. If the Shadow Demon DOES return, most likely it will target them first.

Stain II

Baldwin Lurhman, a.k.a the Badger absolutely despised being a perpetual B-lister. Blessed with fairly useful Metamen abilities including super-strength, endurance, and the ability to bore through solid rock with his claws - he was also a guy who had the dorkiest name in the world. It didn't help that he was accursed with a desire to eat slightly rotted food. Having been beaten up literally dozens of times by Splotch, Baldwin was all for trading up to A-list supervillain status.

Agreeing to be a guinea pig for Doctor Necros, against his better judgement, Baldwin was given a "new and improved" version of the ring that Moses Stein created. Giving him all the abilities of Stain, Baldwin was certain that his days of being a schlub were over.

That was before he killed and ate his best friend.

Baldwin is now HORRIFIED by the fact that he's got a monster inside of him every bit as strong as the one in Moses Stein. In fact, it's worse because Moses actually possessed a strong moral character before he became Stain.

Baldwin is currently employed by Jack Washington III as a bodyguard, said individual having taken care of Baldwin's legal troubles. He's also promised to cure Baldwin's condition, having generated some devices to help control it. Jack Washington III, of course, has no intention of doing so. In fact, he's assisting Baldwin's Shadow Demon in becoming the dominant spirit within him and enjoys his company more than the thuggish Mister Lurhman.

Bloodstain

This guy deserves to die.

No, seriously, Tom Roarke is the guy you point to when you need an argument some people are so bad that the world would be better off without them. Black Wing II has tried to kill him permanently and so has Robin Hood II. Even Angel Girl has attempted to dump him in the sun at one point, viewing him as the sheer inhuman embodiment of evil. Divinos, honestly, thinks they're exaggerating as he knows many more monsters who are worse. Tom Roarke, however, is a completely monstrous creature who preys on the innocent for **** and giggles.

Tom Roarke's origins start as the product of an abusive relationship before growing up in institutions who judged him to be incurable from the very beginning. When he broke out of a high security institution at eighteen, he went on a seven state killing spree. His preferred targets? Children. It wasn't because he had any particular perverse lust for them, he only believed that they were the sort of people that would cause the most misery by their loss.

Tom Roarke eventually ended up being selected by Project: Icarus as a weapon to capture Splotch, using the fragments of Moses Stein's ring to give him similar abilities. Even worse, they activated his latent Metaman abilities which gave him the ability to survive as an astral entity and enter people's dreams. As Splotch summarized it best, "He's what you get when you combine Stain, Blood Wing, and Freddy frigging Kreuger."

Tom Roarke's rampages have resulted in Stain and Splotch teaming up, Doctor Necros temporarily putting aside his latest mad scientist experiment (mostly because Bloodstain makes such a damn mess), and just about every person with any amount of scruples to turn against him. It comes as no surprise that Death Mask III, Project: Icarus, the White Warlock, and Paragon (of all people) have no problem employing him. Despite this, he's died almost fourteen times since gaining his power with his current incarnation being the sixth clone created by Project: Icarus complete with his memories.

Tom Roarke has no particular angst over this, possibly because his astral self moves into these new bodies whenever they're created and possibly because you need a soul to care about whether or not you have one.

[Libra]

(Thanks to Libra for providing names. Sorry you aren't going to get any work on this bit of lore.)

No worries - I keep letting my free time slip away from me without seeming to get anything done for this thread at the moment. Commentary is my way of taking steps to rectify this sad state of affairs at the moment, so providing me more fodder for comments is a philanthropic deed!

To put it another way your work on the subject is very good, so I HAVE to forgive you (especially since you gave me credit for coming up with the names).

After he takes his tums, he then calls General Starr and demands to know if he was the one that hired them.

General Starr would, of course, NEVER hire mercenaries - especially ones as destructive as The Renegades.

Of course The Renegades paymasters DO owe him a favour or ten and they CAN take a hint.

As long as you follow the few rules they have and play relatively nice with their teammates all is good.

Rule #1: No kids, no pregnant chicks.

Guideline #1: Everybody pays (although some clients are obliged to pay less than others).

Guideline #2: Play nice with the other kids (except when they betray you).

Guideline #3: If you don't get caught, you don't get jailed (if we do catch you doing something we don't like, you STILL don't have to worry about Jail ... or breathing).

On their downtime they do fight crime, though they don't see it as heroism. Its training.

Well, MOSTLY training - sometimes The Renegades just get sick of seeing someone grinding down the little guy and offer their special 'Awful Individual' discount.

"Why do we have codenames? We aren't some spandex wearing b*****!
"If we didn't have codenames, everybody would know you are Sven Olafsson and wanted in almost every country in Europe for acts of mayhem. We couldn't get you a passport"

California: "Also? we got bored!"

In fact the really hardcore Renegades seldom refer to one another by their codenames (except California) usually preferring a series of surnames too carefully generic to be real: Ms. Johnson, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Harley, Mr. Buell, Mr. Ridley and Mr. Penton.

Big Dog

There are no rules of engagement.

Except for If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'

Big Dog is a man in his late 50s and while he doesn't go out on missions often, he is still dangerous.

Amusingly Big Dog dresses more like a banker than a bandana-obsessed bad--- and is more likely to call someone a 'phillistine' than a more matcho p-word insult. He STILL looks more like a man who hunted a banker to death, then took his clothes as a trophy rather than a banker himself.

The Renegades have dark suspicions that he actually SAVES his wages, rather than blowing them on the modern equivelent of wine, women and song (or rum, sodomy and the lash, for those whose tastes extend that way): They don't voice them because Big Dog keeps operations shipshape and has actually fought a duel WITH CHAINSAWS.

Alligator

Al actually briefly worked for the DEA before being kicked upstairs to the CIA when one too many of his unsuccesful operations had an explosive sequel. Almost alone amongst The Renegades, Al would be willing to work for free if somebody down on their luck approached him with an authentic tale of woe, if the rest of the team weren't going to Tar and Feather him for doing so.

Bull

Bull, being a natural-born heir to the Vikings born into a Scandinavia that failed to appreciate those ancient 'virtues', does of course insist that he saw service as a sailor in the Danish Navy and this is true, as far as it goes - to be strictly accurate, however, he was actually an engineer (since his superior officers were far too sensible to let Denmark's only living specimen of the gung-ho lunatic anywhere near anything like Heavy Artillery).

Ace

Amusingly I've heard that Ace preferred a pigskin flying helmet (with goggles in the air and aviator sunglasses on the ground) worn with a flying jacket AND NOTHING ELSE. Big Dog only started making him wear the Kilt when he isn't flying to prevent accidents like the Great Texas Cactus Needle Hodown.

Rock-On

Rock-On once kept a deep, dark secret which he swears got him kicked out of France when it was uncovered - he actually LOVES Americans, mostly because they created and accepted his love of MORE DAKKA.

California

Some think California's endless babble is a psychological ploy to keep her enemies (and a few of her team-mates) too distracted to make succesful attempts to kill her - but this isn't really accurate. California babbles because she's too busy concentrating on hitting the target to spare any concentration for little things like putting a sock in it.

Also she used to be a socialite before she realised her true calling lay in shooting people for money.

[Charles Phipps]

Bravo, Libra!

Your comments keep us going!

I'll answer them all but give you a chance to catch up first!

(and yes, the Flower Power Crew eventually gave rise to the Freehold Institution of Ghoul-B-Gone or the Esoterminators as they were later called).

[Libra]

The American Eagle

As a note, the American Eagle is a mostly non-Anthropomorphic Bald Eagle* with the exception of the fact that his talons are as nimble as most hands, as well as the fact that his face can show emotions beyond "shriek" and "haughty scorn".

He has also, when pressed, admitted to the fact that 'The American Eagle' is a nickname which he adores and owned up to possessing a personal name - Young Abe.

Old Abe, it should be noted, is his mother.

*He's actually very sensitive about being 'bald by nature' and ALWAYS wears that helmet of his (a WWI tin derby, to be precise) to avoid the embarrasment of showing off his hairless pate ... which is, in fact covered by exactly as many feathers as one would expect on the head of a bald eagle.

He also lacks the gibbering insanity which cripples most toons.

To be strictly accurate most 'Toons are less 'gibberingly insane' than they are operating on a completely different understanding of Life, The Universe and Everything - basically, their worldview is grounded in the essential premise that if it's funny, it's going to happen to one of them sooner or later, so you might as well get around to ensuring that it happens (preferably to someone else), that it happens to someone who can survive the process (i.e. other 'Toons ... or superheroes) and that it's therefore hilarious, rather than tragic, so that EVERYONE can laugh about it afterwards.

Basically even the craziest toon works on this surreal logic - and it should be noted that the majority of the 'Toons are at least as rational as any other celebrity walking around the streets of Hollywood (having noticed that the Real World is not like their own) which is why studios are still wiling to employ them. Admittedly, given the fascinatingly broad spectrum of neuroses on display in Hollywood at any one time, this isn't saying much.

It should also be noted that not all of the 'Toons have either never noticed (or never deigned to notice) that residents of the Real World don't automatically 'Get Better' and are verifiable crazier than an Escher-designed garden path. This would be why they are very, very carefully kept in Paint Town at all times by their more lucid fellows and why most visitors to Paint Town (where the Guidelines of Cartoon physics apply) tend to be very thankful that the so-called 'Tall Tales* are on hand to act as wardens.

*Of whom more anon - they're the refugees from Otherworld who arrived by way of the original America Entertainment animated features, back in the forties and are fully lucid, if cartoonish.

Well, except for Pecos Bill, but he's been hanging out with the 'Toons for too long.

Steel Commando III has set him up as Sheriff of Paint Town to get him out of his hair.

Amusingly Abe's actual title should be 'Head of the Neighbourhood Watch' but no 'Toon worth his paint would accept such an un-melodramatic title!

Mischief

To be strictly accurate Mischief has the spleen AND the heart of a 'Toon (Doctor Dreadful never used the latter, but resents that The Villainous Egghead actually gave that juvenile meatbag his spleen into the bargain. How's he supposed to work up a proper head of villainous RAGE without his spleen?!?

Piggy Banks

In truth Piggy Banks doesn't actually mind being locked out of Private Trading (although he was happy to keep his honourary position with Raven Industries - ironically he's not even the craziest member of that particular association), since his truest passion has always been the quest for Fortune and Glory, rather than mere money.

Thankfully he's also a keen seeker after knowledge and a keen amateur historian, which means he actually leaves the numerous Lost Cities, misplaced kingdoms and sundry curiosities he and his nephews unearth intact - whenever possible, at least.

Interestingly Piggy Banks actually self-identifies as a Chinese-American and in fact seems to express (or perhaps more accurately was originally based upon) the character traits associated with the pig in the Chinese Zodiac. Thankfully he's not a walking stereotype - even if he does have an absent-minded habit of referring to those nephews of his as 'Number One/Two/Three Nephew' rather than Ham, Spam and Lucky.

Snow White

In fact Blanche - as she prefers to be known - is actually the head of the Paint Town residents association, rather than the mayor but definately remains the Alpha Female (there's a reason she was able to wind those Seven Grizzled Miners around her little finger and her Hepburn-esque charm is only part of it).

She seems dedicated to simultaneously living down her portrayal by Disney (despite the fact that she closely resembles it, both physically and in character, when she isn't thinking) and giving the Moral Character of the World a good Spring Cleaning: If it weren't for the fact that she's genuinely good-natured and rather sweet in person, she'd be completely intimidating.

As things stand she tends to come off as more Katharine than Audrey.

Rose Red

As should be immediately obvious, Rose Red is a student of the famous Little Red Robin Hood (you thought Black-Wing was the only one who inspired imitators?), as well as Barry Wolf's parole officer: there's a reason he keeps his muzzle clean you know, no matter how much he might wish to get it very dirty indeed.

Barry Wolf

A devout fanboy of Fenris, Barry has dream of emulating the one and only BIG BAD WOLF for the entirety of his existence in the Real World and does his best to act accordingly - unfortunately for him, he has a Problem of a delicate nature:- He just growls, howls and prowls, but he's never actually been able to get his muzzle bloody, no matter how many times he gleefully brings himself to the brink of doing what BIG BAD WOLVES do best.

You know how it is - you're with a girl, you've waited until the perfect moment came, howled and prowled and fattened her up for all your worth, you're waiting in bed for the main course and then - nothing happens.

It's very embarrassing.

Alex and George

George, of course, has only ever been heard to say "Nevermore" with moderate variation of inflection - which Alex, being a natural born motorbeak can be relied upon to translate AND reply to (yes, that's right, he actually provides 95% of every conversation with his partner - not to mention every other one).

Angel Mouse and Angel Mousette

Mikael actually LOVES Angel Mouse and Angel Mousette, because for some reason Mr. Hoppy REALLY dislikes them (quite possibly because they're exactly as noble as Divinos and Angel Girl ... but actually have a sense of mischief and have therefore actually outpranked him - FOR JUSTICE! - his second worst nightmare brought to life!).

The Villainous Egghead

The Villainous Egghead will have you know that he's just SICK and tired of that horrible fellow Doctor Dreadful lowering the tone of Master Villainy across the land.

Honestly, The Villainous Egghead has dedicated himself to his craft with eggstraordinary dedication, studying all the sciences (Physical, Medical and Social) so that he can whip up a most eggcellent scheme and all the Arts (social and performing) so that he might do so in eggcellent style, with a minimum of unpleasantness (all the better to attract the Public to screenings of his next Magnum Opus) and that rotten egg Dr Dreadful just runs around KILLING people!

KILLING I tell you - That's no trade for a proper Star of Stage, Screen and Cunning Scheme! The only killing worthy of the World's Greatest (technically-*) Criminal Mind is the killing made at the box office when one's latest scheme has been pulled off (and recorded for posterity).

"There! That, my dears is the eggsact truth of my opinion. Now, would anyone like an autograph? You, young lady? Eggcellent! Why yes my dear, I do sound like that noted thespian and raconteur Vincent Price - I should, he was my original vocal coach you know. My voice actor!?! - now where would you get an egg-straordinary idea like that?"

Or, to reduce all that egg-scruciating verbiage to a single sentance - The Villainous Egghead is so deep into The Method that he can't decide if he's a master perfomer playing a master villain or a master villain playing at being a master performer.

Also that he looks rather like a Victorian Humpty-Dumpty and really sounds like Professor Ratigan with a curious verbal tic.

[Libra]

Bravo, Libra!

Your comments keep us going!

If only so that my posts aren't the first thing some poor newcomer to Heroic Earth has to read!

I'll answer them all but give you a chance to catch up first!

I'll do my best.

(and yes, the Flower Power Crew eventually gave rise to the Freehold Institution of Ghoul-B-Gone or the Esoterminators as they were later called).

Hmmm ...

[Charles Phipps]

Doubtless JW III hand-picked them to make QUITE sure of this (given that even if they try stabbing him in the back they're far less likely to succeed than he is to survive). You might as well call this the 'Iron Khan' approach to Mastermind/Hechman relations.

The Iron Khan said, "As long as they're fighting each other, they can't team up to overthrow me. It's the perfect system."

"Okay, Ming," - Black Wing II said, assuming everyone would get it.

"Huh?" Steel Commando III asked.

I'd guess that the long history of intermarriage induced by the notorious examples of inbreeding produced in Lowtown played it's part in this longstanding tradition of tolerance - one imagines some ancienct local by-law to the effect of "Residents may marry whomsoever they please, if they be not Macneers" being exploited to the fullest.

Amusingly, Lowtown was accepted faster than New Darthmouth, which contained a bunch of cannibalistic wolfmen-human hybrids. Oddly, ones completely unrelated to Freehold's oddball history. It's just one of those things that happened.

Doubtless helped that fine lady see through yon fellow's charismatic charm to his absolute lack of scruple - I believe that a later historian described him best when they observed that "He presented to the public scrutiny that rare combination of anti-hero and gentleman-villain best summed up by his job description: Pirate. The reader will be pleased to note that the O'Hara family has changed but little since their second most notorious forebear."

The O'Haras are more than a little enamored of their criminal past, smoothing over the darker side of it.

Although to be fair the O'Hara clan has produced both Anti-Heroes, Anti-Villains and those who combined in their persons elements of both over the generations. That's what keeps Freehold society so interesting!

Indeed, Splotch is quite grateful he has Swash! the pirate wench to flirt with!

(The exclamation point is part of her name)

Mostly because they kept handing them money and some VERY interesting ideas.

Meant to say, "enjoyable to laugh at" preferably behind their back. Still, they had the last laugh. Congress from that day forth was heavily infiltrated and their staffs even more. You can control a nation more effectively through its bureaucracy than its leaders.

Well, hanged because he'd never got that approval AND because he was crazy enough to try his luck in battle against a commander who'd actually been paying attention to stories of his exploits, then worked out from them a strategy to beat O'Hara that actually worked - it involved Q-Ships and a NASTY surprise for Mr. O'Hara.

It was actually by an ancestor of a Horatio Hornblower-like fellow.

It's not that he didn't find the idea appealing, but all that campaigning and boozing didn't leave him nearly as much time for wenching as he would have liked (hence all those time-saving two-in-one incidents).

It helped that, contrary to his depiction as a Christopher Walken-looking monster, Lucien Drake was possessed of all the devilish good looks of an incubus.

Really, the best way to guarantee he'd kill you would be to call him "pretty" without being a girl.

http://images.wikia.com/devilmaycry/es/ ... ante_4.png

[Phrozen]

General Starr would, of course, NEVER hire mercenaries - especially ones as destructive as The Renegades.

Of course The Renegades paymasters DO owe him a favour or ten and they CAN take a hint.

Sure, sometimes the payments don't come in cash. Bullets and equipment work just as well. The group tends to got through a crazy amount of bullets, detonators, and other things. There is only so much you can salvage after the shooting is done.

Rule #1: No kids, no pregnant chicks.

Guideline #1: Everybody pays (although some clients are obliged to pay less than others).

Guideline #2: Play nice with the other kids (except when they betray you).

Guideline #3: If you don't get caught, you don't get jailed (if we do catch you doing something we don't like, you STILL don't have to worry about Jail ... or breathing).

That is pretty much it. Though kids are a pretty good description. Live fast and die with a bunch of semtex is the lifestyle.

Well, MOSTLY training - sometimes The Renegades just get sick of seeing someone grinding down the little guy and offer their special 'Awful Individual' discount.

"Whats the least amount you killed someone for?"
"Ten bucks and a pack of gum."
"Really, why so cheap?"
"He scuffed my boots."

California: "Also? we got bored!"

In fact the really hardcore Renegades seldom refer to one another by their codenames (except California) usually preferring a series of surnames too carefully generic to be real: Ms. Johnson, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Harley, Mr. Buell, Mr. Ridley and Mr. Penton.

Big Dog chooses the names simply because if he didn't he would have a lot of "Angus Hurtz" and such.

Amusingly Big Dog dresses more like a banker than a bandana-obsessed bad--- and is more likely to call someone a 'phillistine' than a more matcho p-word insult. He STILL looks more like a man who hunted a banker to death, then took his clothes as a trophy rather than a banker himself.

The Renegades have dark suspicions that he actually SAVES his wages, rather than blowing them on the modern equivelent of wine, women and song (or rum, sodomy and the lash, for those whose tastes extend that way): They don't voice them because Big Dog keeps operations shipshape and has actually fought a duel WITH CHAINSAWS.

"Chainsaws?"
"Look, Colombia was strange. Some cartel captain watched a bit too much Scarface."

Oh in his younger days he certainly did. Once he turned 35 he had to think about the future. Plus, his doctor said he had to lay off the booze. The suit is pretty much for only meeting with clients and others. He has tea with Dame Holmes at least once a month.

Alligator

Al actually briefly worked for the DEA before being kicked upstairs to the CIA when one too many of his unsuccesful operations had an explosive sequel. Almost alone amongst The Renegades, Al would be willing to work for free if somebody down on their luck approached him with an authentic tale of woe, if the rest of the team weren't going to Tar and Feather him for doing so.

Lets just put it this way. Alligator was a lot like Agent Sands in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. He thought he was the chessmaster but isn't. He just ended doing all the killing and exploding himself in a less then stealthy campaign.

Bull

Bull, being a natural-born heir to the Vikings born into a Scandinavia that failed to appreciate those ancient 'virtues', does of course insist that he saw service as a sailor in the Danish Navy and this is true, as far as it goes - to be strictly accurate, however, he was actually an engineer (since his superior officers were far too sensible to let Denmark's only living specimen of the gung-ho lunatic anywhere near anything like Heavy Artillery).

He was still on a ship and that is all that matters. Surprisingly, the Asgardians are in no way responsible for his mannerisms. Even if they were, he would fight the Chosen of the Slain because they are there.

"Swords?! You have to be kidding me. Its time for you dark age b******* to meet Mr. AA-12"

Ace

Amusingly I've heard that Ace preferred a pigskin flying helmet (with goggles in the air and aviator sunglasses on the ground) worn with a flying jacket AND NOTHING ELSE. Big Dog only started making him wear the Kilt when he isn't flying to prevent accidents like the Great Texas Cactus Needle Hodown.

You forgot the scarf. No one talks about the Great Texas Cactus Needle Hodown. If you were there you drink to forget about the Great Texas Cactus Needle Hodown.

Rock-On

Rock-On once kept a deep, dark secret which he swears got him kicked out of France when it was uncovered - he actually LOVES Americans, mostly because they created and accepted his love of MORE DAKKA.

and MOABs. He literally watched the youtube video of that for three days straight. He doesn't have unsupervised computer access anymore.

California

Some think California's endless babble is a psychological ploy to keep her enemies (and a few of her team-mates) too distracted to make succesful attempts to kill her - but this isn't really accurate. California babbles because she's too busy concentrating on hitting the target to spare any concentration for little things like putting a sock in it.

Also she used to be a socialite before she realised her true calling lay in shooting people for money.

Also, the mercenary life keeps her figure nice and trim. She is thinking of making an exercise series of it named 'Merc Fit' with exercises like hiking 10 miles with a Tac-50 rifle and ammo strapped to your back.

[Charles Phipps]

The Renegades really are a great idea and each individual member is really entertaining to read about.

California, ironically, reminds me a lot of a Foundation Agent who guest starred in a lot of our games.

I'll just assume they're the same person.

[vitruvian]

Treating him as a Byronic hero who is very very pretty is probably accurate.

You could give him a variation on the Legolas 'still the prettiest' monologue quite easily, or turn him back to villainy as a male equivalent to the Evil Queen Stepmother from Cinderella.

[vitruvian]

Medreut

Medreut, himself, is an albino with white hair and scars who is a weird combination of pretty with badass. Sort of like if Sephiroth was somehow the kind of guy who could sit down in a biker bar and nobody hassle him. His personality is best compared to Discworld's Carrot's sword. He's from a time when being a knight wasn't about being shiny but being very good at killing people. He mostly restricts himself to killing supernatural monsters, though, mostly.

So, very butch Elric, then?

[vitruvian]

Director Hepburn has a bunch of strategems for dealing with all of the various super-factions. After all, Dame Holmes just wasn't TRYING hard enough.

PHANTOM: Clearly, the organization was destined to break up anyway. It's current disintegration is a show of how acute applied economic force is more effective than Dame Holmes and Major Victory's attempt to defeat them with military force. Attempts to co-opt the organization's various sub-organizations is undoubtedly the best strategy for dealing with them. It is a broken organization and once Ruritania is defeated, it will fade away like the Taliban.

The Taliban faded away in HED? It really is an alternate timeline, isn't it?