Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest

What sort of tone should I shoot for with this Quest?

  • Go as crack fueled as you can we want Ambush Bug, Snowflame and Duckseid

    Votes: 30 7.7%
  • Go for something silly but keep a little bit of reason

    Votes: 31 7.9%
  • Adam West Camp

    Votes: 27 6.9%
  • Balanced as all things should be

    Votes: 195 50.0%
  • Mostly serious but not self-involvedly so

    Votes: 73 18.7%
  • Dark and brooding but with light at the end of the tunnel

    Votes: 12 3.1%
  • We're evil and we don't want anyone to be happy

    Votes: 22 5.6%

  • Total voters
    390
  • Poll closed .
I'm not Simon Jester so there might be some degree of inaccuracy in my statement but I believe that he is referring to the telephone god that the Brain had when you first encountered him (and he was just an unknown individual). That self-same telephone god is what put Cerise into a coma way back when by effectively disrupting the connection between Circe (it basically noticed the connections and promptly mangled them whilst Circe cut the line she was using to connect to Cerise).
Come to think of it, having conceptual power over anything that can reasonably be interpreted as a "phone line" would be a great way to disrupt the scrying of a spellcaster who is herself being remotely puppeted by yet another individual. :D

The Brain did have a telephone god at one point.
I'm going to go out on a limb and make a wild guess.

You're not going to formally tell us one way or the other whether the Brain still has a telephone god, are you? :D

All I know is, if the Brain still has some control over that telephone god, and doesn't at least try to sic said telephone god on Brainiac, then I'm officially going to demote the Brain to some nickname for another, less intelligent bodily organ. The Spleen, maybe, or the Gall Bladder.

:p
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and make a wild guess.

You're not going to formally tell us one way or the other whether the Brain still has a telephone god, are you? :D

All I know is, if the Brain still has some control over that telephone god, and doesn't at least try to sic said telephone god on Brainiac, then I'm officially going to demote the Brain to some nickname for another, less intelligent bodily organ. The Spleen, maybe, or the Gall Bladder.

:p
You're correct I'm not going to confirm or deny if the Brain still has a telephone god.

I will say that there are intelligent reasons for the Brain not to immediately sic the telephone god on Brainiac even if he does have it. I won't stop you from calling him stupid but I do think it's important to not confuse greed, malicious intent and/or ambition as stupidity even if they can be linked.
 
You're correct I'm not going to confirm or deny if the Brain still has a telephone god.

I will say that there are intelligent reasons for the Brain not to immediately sic the telephone god on Brainiac even if he does have it. I won't stop you from calling him stupid but I do think it's important to not confuse greed, malicious intent and/or ambition as stupidity even if they can be linked.
Is it because brainiac collection of various capitols of civilations could allow it to connect to various cultures throughout the universe and feed on them?
 
Is it because brainiac collection of various capitols of civilations could allow it to connect to various cultures throughout the universe and feed on them?
That's not likely to be a reason. Brainiac collects a few cities for further observation (not just capitals) but the Brain has no knowledge of this and the telephone god couldn't exactly feed on them effectively as Brainiac keeps them pretty effectively cut off from the outside world. Such concerns both aren't applicable and aren't relevant due to the Brain having no way of knowing that this might even be a problem.

The Brain's potential reasons (keep in mind this is a hypothetical so the Brain might actually want to end the fight as soon as possible and have no interest in dragging things out) are all tied to things he knows and he doesn't know much about Brainiac beyond that he's an alien entity that destroys the worlds he visits thanks to secondhand knowledge from Garguax.
 
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So I decided to out of boredom create a list of the best human, unenhanced martial artists in the DCQU. This isn't necessarily canon but I think it's fun and it'll help you guys understand some of my thinking on the relative position of all these characters. That being said I will not be including children (so Cassandra's out despite arguably placing in the top ten) and I will not be counting people who have been enhanced in some way (so Deathstroke, Bane and Blockbuster are out of the running). Furthermore this is not meant to be a straight "who would win in a fight" but rather an examination of skill at martial arts without the use of tools or outside assistance. Without further ado the list looks something like this.

  1. Richard Dragon
  2. Lady Shiva
  3. Ubu
  4. Bronze Tiger
  5. Sensei
  6. Judomaster
  7. Constantine Drakon
  8. White Canary
  9. I-Ching
  10. Alpha

Keep in mind that a lot of characters were discounted from the running (Seven Deadly Brothers, Black Canary, Deathstroke, Philo Zeiss, Sumo and more) and that a lot of characters got knocked down due to their reliance on tools (Batman, Oliver Queen, David Cain, Katana, Mr. Terrific and more). Still I hope people find it interesting to look at and discuss.
 
Looks like we should try and contact Richard Dragon after all.

If he's trying to rescue Bronze Tiger from the League we could use that favour Ra's owes us for Gotham.

If Ra's has concerns due to how Dragon interferes whith League business, we say we can distract both would-be heroes with paying us back?
 
In time, we need to justify to Ra's that she is worth allying with. Give it a few turns.
Honestly, I don't think Ra's would need much convincing to believe it's worth forming an alliance with someone with a paranormal ability to command the loyalty of millions. He's often very preoccupied with issues of loyalty and control, as I understand it.
 
Honestly, I don't think Ra's would need much convincing to believe it's worth forming an alliance with someone with a paranormal ability to command the loyalty of millions. He's often very preoccupied with issues of loyalty and control, as I understand it.
Oh certainly, but like, i figure he'd sit back and watch for awhile. He's got time after all.
 
In time, we need to justify to Ra's that she is worth allying with. Give it a few turns.
It's also worth considering that if we do end up going through with the marriage would she be counted as a separated faction or joined with LexCorp

By the way @King crimson, just to check do we need to make write ins if we want to vote for multiple options together or can they be voted for individually?
 
By the way @King crimson, just to check do we need to make write ins if we want to vote for multiple options together or can they be voted for individually?
Write-ins need to be used to combine options together. That being said there hasn't been a single vote yet so whoever goes first will likely have the easiest time gathering momentum later on. There's also no restrictions to the format of the vote so you can go for plan or approval voting depending on what you prefer.
 
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Okay in that case I think I'm going to go with:

[X] [Dekan] Call Dekan out on lying about why he was seen talking to himself

[X] [Alien] Write-in: Tell Ra's everything you know about the alien and request that he provide you with any leftover pieces of the alien invasion that come into his position in exchange for the information you manage to glean

[X] [Alliance] Write-in: Agree to the deal but request that a majority consensus must be reached if either party seeks to include more allies in the future.

[X] [Atlantis] Write-in: Offer to reverse-engineer any Atlantean technology the League manages to steal and provide them with the new technology. Give Ra's al Ghul information on Atlantis' political system and current rulers free of charge. Tell Ra's what you know about the renegade Black Manta, who is an enemy of the current rulers of Atlantis.

Are these all okay @King crimson?
 
[X] [Dekan] Call Dekan out on lying about why he was seen talking to himself

[X] [Alien] Write-in: Tell Ra's everything you know about the alien and request that he provide you with any leftover pieces of the alien invasion that come into his position in exchange for the information you manage to glean

[X] [Alliance] Write-in: Agree to the deal but request that a majority consensus must be reached if either party seeks to include more allies in the future.

[X] [Atlantis] Write-in: Offer to reverse-engineer any Atlantean technology the League manages to steal and provide them with the new technology. Give Ra's al Ghul information on Atlantis' political system and current rulers free of charge. Tell Ra's what you know about the renegade Black Manta, who is an enemy of the current rulers of Atlantis.
 
[X] [Dekan] Write-in: Turn on the defenses to disable Dekan immediately. Then dose him with a pheramone spray to compel him to answer our questions truthfully. Press Dekan on why he might think Rebecca has no soul. Ask about why he felt the need to hide his reasons for looking into robots and exo-suits. Call Dekan out on lying about why he was seen talking to himself.

[X] [Alien] Write-in: Tell Ra's everything you know about the alien. Request that Ra's observe the Brain whilst he aids in repelling the invasion.

[X] [Atlantis] Write-in: Offer to reverse-engineer any Atlantean technology the League manages to steal and provide them with the new technology. Give Ra's al Ghul information on Atlantis' political system and current rulers free of charge. Tell Ra's what you know about the renegade Black Manta, who is an enemy of the current rulers of Atlantis.

[X] [Alliance] Write-in: Agree to the deal but request that a majority consensus must be reached if either party seeks to include more allies in the future.
 
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Okay in that case I think I'm going to go with:

[X] [Dekan] Call Dekan out on lying about why he was seen talking to himself

[X] [Alien] Write-in: Tell Ra's everything you know about the alien and request that he provide you with any leftover pieces of the alien invasion that come into his position in exchange for the information you manage to glean

[X] [Alliance] Write-in: Agree to the deal but request that a majority consensus must be reached if either party seeks to include more allies in the future.

[X] [Atlantis] Write-in: Offer to reverse-engineer any Atlantean technology the League manages to steal and provide them with the new technology. Give Ra's al Ghul information on Atlantis' political system and current rulers free of charge. Tell Ra's what you know about the renegade Black Manta, who is an enemy of the current rulers of Atlantis.

Are these all okay @King crimson?
Yup, all of these are good to go.
 
[X] [Dekan] Call Dekan out on lying about why he was seen talking to himself

[X] [Alien] Write-in: Tell Ra's everything you know about the alien and request that he provide you with any leftover pieces of the alien invasion that come into his position in exchange for the information you manage to glean

[X] [Alliance] Write-in: Agree to the deal but request that a majority consensus must be reached if either party seeks to include more allies in the future.

[X] [Atlantis] Write-in: Offer to reverse-engineer any Atlantean technology the League manages to steal and provide them with the new technology. Give Ra's al Ghul information on Atlantis' political system and current rulers free of charge. Tell Ra's what you know about the renegade Black Manta, who is an enemy of the current rulers of Atlantis.
 
So is there any consenus on whether or not we should be bringing Queen Bee into our alliance with Ra's?
I personally think that our alliance with Queen Bee is more valuable than whatever we might get up to with Ra's. I also... don't really like the alliance with Ra's as stated. Our happy place is when we're not involved in the malfeasance of others. Ideally, we'd make a world where it is easier for Ra's to do his thing, but where we have nothing to do with his acts of murder and terrorism.

[X] [Dekan] Write-in: Turn on the defenses to disable Dekan immediately. Then dose him with a pheramone spray to compel him to answer our questions truthfully. Press Dekan on why he might think Rebecca has no soul. Ask about why he felt the need to hide his reasons for looking into robots and exo-suits. Call Dekan out on lying about why he was seen talking to himself.

I like this one. It's better than the one I'd thought of, and I support it.

[X] [Alien] Tell Ra's everything you know about the alien. Request that Ra's provide you with any leftover pieces of the alien invasion that come into his position in exchange for the information you manage to glean from them. Try to arrange some sort of line of communication to better coordinate your efforts (and, in particular, to help him keep his efforts against the alien from coming into conflict with the official governmental efforts against the alien, which you will also likely be in on at least some of)

Basically what everyone else is saying, except that trying to maintain some sort of communication and coordination would also be good.

[X] [Atlantis] Write-in: Offer to reverse-engineer any Atlantean technology the League manages to steal and provide them with the new technology. Give Ra's al Ghul information on Atlantis' political system and current rulers free of charge. Tell Ra's what you know about the renegade Black Manta, who is an enemy of the current rulers of Atlantis.

I had my own write-in... but it was pretty much exactly this with slightly different wording, so I'm going with the one that already has votes instead.

[X] [Alliance] Offer a different sort of alliance. LexCorp is happy to work closely (as described in the initial alliance) on any matters involving things like external, severe, or existential threats to the world, but does not wish to be implicated in anything involving direct action against law-abiding individuals, regardless of what we might wish to occur to them. We are happy to use our influence in ways that will be incidentally useful in containing such individuals, and happy to take any suggestions that Ra's might have to offer on such matters, but we have concerns about the investigative abilities that may be brought to bear, and thus do not wish to be involved in things like planning or target selection except rarely, and then on a case by case basis. Leave open the possibility of inviting others into the alliance later, with a majority vote.

Basically the same alliance with possibility for growth as before, except in a way that keeps our hands cleaner. I'm a fan of keeping our hands cleaner.
 
Huh? What? You're going to have to run that by me again, because It made no sense to me the first time.

Also, I think that telling Ra's where to find the nukes is a really bad idea. Like, seriously. Let's not do that thing.
These Mostly:-




I'd rather not waste AP from being hijacked by Brainiac's nanites.



Let's make it Bruce Wayne's problem ok? Let Wayne Enterprises waste their AP.
 
I'd just like to point out that Ra turned down our last offer to provide him with tech. He's not interested in modernizing or atlantisizing his followers weaponry. If your going to push for the tech deal you need an angle to make it appeal to him. I have mine, but I'd be interested in seeing what other people can come up with if it's unsatisfactory.

[X] [Atlantis] Write-in: Give Ra's al Ghul information on Atlantis political system and current rulers free of charge, putting emphasis on what you learned of Orm and the possibility of triggering infighting among the Atlantean kingdoms. Tell Ra's what you know about the renegade Black Manta, who is an enemy of the current rulers of Atlantis. Offer to reverse-engineer any Atlantean technology the League manages to steal and supply the league with replicas should they choose to attempt to reignite the Atlantean civil war or frame atlantis for surface attacks through misdirection.

[X] [Alien] Tell Ra's everything you know about the alien. Request that Ra's provide you with any leftover pieces of the alien invasion that come into his position in exchange for the information you manage to glean from them. Try to arrange some sort of line of communication to better coordinate your efforts (and, in particular, to help him keep his efforts against the alien from coming into conflict with the official governmental efforts against the alien, which you will also likely be in on at least some of)

[X] [Alliance] Offer a different sort of alliance. LexCorp is happy to work closely (as described in the initial alliance) on any matters involving things like external, severe, or existential threats to the world, but does not wish to be implicated in anything involving direct action against law-abiding individuals, regardless of what we might wish to occur to them. We are happy to use our influence in ways that will be incidentally useful in containing such individuals, and happy to take any suggestions that Ra's might have to offer on such matters, but we have concerns about the investigative abilities that may be brought to bear, and thus do not wish to be involved in things like planning or target selection except rarely, and then on a case by case basis. Leave open the possibility of inviting others into the alliance later, with a majority vote.

[X] [Dekan] Write-in: Turn on the defenses to disable Dekan immediately. Then dose him with a pheramone spray to compel him to answer our questions truthfully. Press Dekan on why he might think Rebecca has no soul. Ask about why he felt the need to hide his reasons for looking into robots and exo-suits. Call Dekan out on lying about why he was seen talking to himself.
 
I'd just like to point out that Ra turned down our last offer to provide him with tech. He's not interested in modernizing or atlantisizing his followers weaponry. If your going to push for the tech deal you need an angle to make it appeal to him. I have mine, but I'd be interested in seeing what other people can come up with if it's unsatisfactory.
To be fair even if Ra's maintains that opinion, though with how much the world has changed since then he might not, it's specifically noted that one of the three options the League sees for dealing with Atlantis is to steal from them and reduce the technological disparity between them and the surface and that's actually the option that Talia supports and is most likely to advocate for

Even if Ra's doesn't want us to provide the League with new tech, though Talia might, he is at least aware of the benefit of us producing that tech
 
To be fair even if Ra's maintains that opinion, though with how much the world has changed since then he might not, it's specifically noted that one of the three options the League sees for dealing with Atlantis is to steal from them and reduce the technological disparity between them and the surface and that's actually the option that Talia supports and is most likely to advocate for

Even if Ra's doesn't want us to provide the League with new tech, though Talia might, he is at least aware of the benefit of us producing that tech
Fair, but I still feel there is a lot of potential to sow devision and mistrust both between the Atlantean Kingdoms, and between the surface governments and Atlantis that the current leading plan doesn't encourage to the degree it could and should.
 
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