A Champion in Earth Bet [Worm/Original Setting]

[darkstarling]

So tactics aside - I really like this chapter for other reasons. Especially seeing other heroes step up. Adam Kralj, most notably. But the other heroes you connected in Namibia. The people stepping up to join the European Brigade after it's been a joke for so long. Making a difference by inspiring others is the real way we keep score.

The Avatar coming in and annihilating an army engaging in genocide. Just, everyone's dead. I agree, all things considered, but at once that's absolutely terrifying. The news coverage. The Avatar, without being cruel or gloating, dispassionately killing hundreds of people. People who want to oppose us, there's their ammunition. Because it's different when the inhumanely perfect powerhouse is using his powers on regular people. Comparisons to avenging angels are GOING to be made, and Cauldron WILL be making comparisons to their projections of Gold Morning.

It's nice to see mass battles that get numbers right. I find my intuition is all screwed up whenever I see the numbers involved in wars, even small ones like this.

And it is... reassuring isn't the right word, but good narratively, for us to be reminded that the Avatar can't win every battle himself. He has lost, several times, even when he had time to plan, most notably the battles of the Cryosphere. But it's hardly the only instance. He has to worry about more than just Endbringers and budgeting his time. So we can't just coast, we have to take this seriously.

Second to last paragraph:

Object Empowering Striker + Power Boosting Trump = Forcefield piercing gun.

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Okay, add Croixe to the key force multipliers list.

The jamming, thinking on it more, Dragon can do a lot with electronic warfare. So can Verne, and I admit I kind of want to see a steampunk train whistle that through some subsomic hax or other will gum up all communications. Whoever we get on it, though, we need Tinkertech countermeasures for possible Tinkertech comms. And we need to check for backup communication powers of course.

Also, we need to get Tattletale to tag in another Thinker so she can recover as soon as the immediate crisis is over. She's too useful, we'll want to give her some time in a dark room to let the migraine recede until we switch to the offensive. Again, Eidolon is great for this. And getting Eidolon on Thinker duty is good for other reasons too. He needs to be the hero, we don't want his ego getting bruised... and here we can be, asking him to do something we can't. Plus we didn't spend all that time in team practice with him doing Thinker powers for nothing!

 

[sun tzu]

OK, So this is really weird. Around Priština it should be Lazar's Crusade not Sava's Crusade. This is like having a right-wing militia in the USA declare a Crockett Crusade to go invade Canada level of weird. We'll find out how that happened down the line, but something to keep in mind.

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Do note that these guys have conquered Pristina and are in the process of butchering the population.
With that said, I wrote that passage months ago and don't actually remember the research I did before deciding on the name Sava's Crusade, so I'm open to corrections if they come with convincing explanations!

Thank you for the update. The lack of voting options at the beginning really hampers planning though.

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I like having people discuss the update for a while before the tactical discussion starts, so, the voting options will be up tomorrow.
Active discussions make writers happy!

Another option - jamming. Cut off communications so the advanced tactics don't actually help them because they can't get orders. That seems like a job for Dragon.

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Dragon, alas, was one of the first capes the Front neutralized in this fight.
Specifically because Martel's power told him it was important to do so.

I think the Guild should come up with a treaty or get the UN to write legislation that countries can sign up to, which gives the Guild the right to enter, along with law enforcement powers.

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It's worth keeping in mind that the Guild is a private association.

So tactics aside - I really like this chapter for other reasons. Especially seeing other heroes step up. Adam Kralj, most notably. But the other heroes you connected in Namibia. The people stepping up to join the European Brigade after it's been a joke for so long. Making a difference by inspiring others is the real way we keep score.

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God of Heroism. It's in the job description.

 

[Byzantine]

So their lynchpin here seems to be their support capes. So if we put everything into hunting down the two most dangerous ones we'll likely neuter their ability to fight back. Unfortunately doing so is going to be difficult and probably costly.

 

[Daemon Hunter]

The real question is what their counter for Avatar would be. If they don't have one then acting as a beat stick would probably be better just due to them being unable to effectively manage it. That and Avatar's mental acceleration could likely blunt the impact of superhuman tactics, albeit not entirely negate it.

I just expect that their support capes are going to be very well hidden, and with a lack of jamming on our end it means that if Martel is just not in Paris we're in a bit of a bind.

 

[darkstarling]

Do note that these guys have conquered Pristina and are in the process of butchering the population.
With that said, I wrote that passage months ago and don't actually remember the research I did before deciding on the name Sava's Crusade, so I'm open to corrections if they come with convincing explanations!


I like having people discuss the update for a while before the tactical discussion starts, so, the voting options will be up tomorrow.
Active discussions make writers happy!


Dragon, alas, was one of the first capes the Front neutralized in this fight.
Specifically because Martel's power told him it was important to do so.


It's worth keeping in mind that the Guild is a private association.


God of Heroism. It's in the job description.

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And an excellent job it is.

Oh, Dragon doesn't have any more bodies in this fight? Well that's alarming. Then yeah, I think we need to get Verne on this. I bet they can do it, I think their Tinker specialty is actually versatility a long as it's steam powered. Won't be instant of course, so we'll need to do the survive-seconds-to-survive-minutes gig until she gets a countermeasure. We might have other Tinkers in play too, I forget.

If that won't work, for whatever reason, I wonder how much confusion we can sow with our communication power. Listen to what the orders they're getting sound like, then start spamming random orders in that tone to the enemy in sufficient volume that they can't sort out the real ones.

The real question is what their counter for Avatar would be. If they don't have one then acting as a beat stick would probably be better just due to them being unable to effectively manage it. That and Avatar's mental acceleration could likely blunt the impact of superhuman tactics, albeit not entirely negate it.

I just expect that their support capes are going to be very well hidden, and with a lack of jamming on our end it means that if Martel is just not in Paris we're in a bit of a bind.

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...Our communication power can do visuals right? Now Martel is naturally in an all white room windowless room or something. But we can page him. We probably need to know exactly where he is to teleport to him though. But there's still possibly an exploit here if I think about it more. If we were Mimic I'd try to annoy him to death and distract him.

He's got to have staff right? One person can't be giving all these orders, no matter how good he is. Keep checking the staff, see if anyone will break for The Avatar in the face of our best speech, see if someone has a clue on their desk... it's an angle to work.

Their counter for us is probably some kind of tinkertech weapon. I think the Avatar has been badly hurt before by having bombs teleported inside him. Teleporting us somewhere wouldn't work, we can just take a moment and teleport back. If someone has a teleporter without a manton limit they can try to dice us into little bits, or otherwise use something similar to a Bakuda Bombo that doesn't rely on physical toughness.

It might also be hostages. 'Stay in this circle or we stop limiting collateral damage' or something like that. It has to be a line the Avatar would find acceptable though. Because while the Avatar WILL try to save everyone, he'll also hit the point of 'I can't allow this to continue, despite the cost'. As we've just seen.

...Oh shit. That'll be Rhetor's thing won't it. He won't try to convince us to join his cause, his power will just go 'ha ha, no' if he asks. So instead he'll try to convince us to stay out of fights, using whatever means are necessary.

So their lynchpin here seems to be their support capes. So if we put everything into hunting down the two most dangerous ones we'll likely neuter their ability to fight back. Unfortunately doing so is going to be difficult and probably costly.

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Yep, so just like any fight really. We just need to last long enough to find and neutralize their advantages.

 

[storysmith112358]

The irritating thing is that the most effective method of neutralizing the Avatar is to critically injure his allies and force him and Voodoo to spend all their time on healing them, because they know the Avatar won't let any of his allies die if he can help it.

I find myself remembering Avatar's fight with the Simurgh, where we wasted the first few moments trying to take her out while we were on death's door, instead of taking the time to regenerate and allowing us more room to breathe. If we applied the same logic here, getting our allies back in the fight would be the smart option, but since no-one's completely on death's door yet, I agree that taking out the enemy's Thinker support would also give us the same breathing room a la reading the Simurgh's mind.
And hey, if Martel tries to outmaneuver us, we can rely on luck-manipulation to intercept him.

 

[A_Somebody]

hey seek a return to monarchy and to "traditional values" (or rather, their particular vision of what that means).

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*checks notes on Versailles and general Sun King Fuckery*

So this means cutthroat competion to see who gets to watch the king shit in the morning, hating on the Austrians to the point where someone being painted with a slightly large lips is derided as slanderously showing them as Hasburgian and pretending to get unnecessary ass surgery without anesthesia for the aesthetic?

If, as you assume, he's got cameras filming him right now, then you've ruined his entrance and your hologram is right next to him in the videos. That rather limits the propaganda value the Restoration can get out of them.

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Ouf I'd be worried they'd cut out the noise and put out "look the Avatar is literally standing with us!" What he literally smites them two seconds later? Doesn't matter! Lying is hardly the most egregious shit they do.

OK, So this is really weird. Around Priština it should be Lazar's Crusade not Sava's Crusade. This is like having a right-wing militia in the USA declare a Crockett Crusade to go invade Canada level of weird. We'll find out how that happened down the line, but something to keep in mind.

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Uhhhh somehow I doubt public education and general thematic consistency are the strongest in the decades of genocidal warfare that's ravaged the area.

 

[Prince Charon]

"Gesellschaft delenda est?" Myrdin says in an amused tone.

"Essentially," you reply with a slight grin. Not that you feel Rome had much of a moral high ground to stand on in the Punic Wars, but you get his meaning.

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I take it you (the author, not the Avatar) are ignoring or unaware that some archaeologists are becoming more and more certain that the Carthaginians really did sacrifice lots of small children, then? (Sure, Rome was pretty awful, but this was the one set of wars where they may very well have had real moral high ground.)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

I'm excited for more Nazi beatdowns regardless of what we choose. Listening to podcasts about fucked up shit Nazis doing fucked up shit makes reading the beatdown real cathartic.

 

[sunsunsunsunsun]

Can someone please humble Tattletale? Her snarky, know-it-all attitude is so annoying and it's being reinforced with the Guild wanting her help.

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Oh my god, a snarky teenager is being snarky while helping the most elite strike force on the planet do their strike forcing. This is such a terrible crime worthy of scorn.

The irritating thing is that the most effective method of neutralizing the Avatar is to critically injure his allies and force him and Voodoo to spend all their time on healing them, because they know the Avatar won't let any of his allies die if he can help it.

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What we need to do (which is a kinda eh thing, but meh) is find a regenerator who isn't also a super effective blaster/mover/frontliner/etc to pair with Voodoo for healing, so that the Avatar isn't so locked in to soaking Voodoo's damage.

 

[darkstarling]

Oh my god, a snarky teenager is being snarky while helping the most elite strike force on the planet do their strike forcing. This is such a terrible crime worthy of scorn.


What we need to do (which is a kinda eh thing, but meh) is find a regenerator who isn't also a super effective blaster/mover/frontliner/etc to pair with Voodoo for healing, so that the Avatar isn't so locked in to soaking Voodoo's damage.

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Well, if we can protect her that regenerator can be one of our enemy combatants. But she's such an asset we don't want her anywhere near the front lines.

...Dammit, now in Mimic's timeline Nilbog is making a damage sponge regenerating goblin to partner with Voodoo. It also secretes a lot of useful medical compounds in various disgusting ways.

 

[Eisenhelm]

so is killing parahumans enough to remove their reinforcement effects?

 

[Byzantine]

so is killing parahumans enough to remove their reinforcement effects?

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Probably depends how the shard in question decides to interpret it. So... anyone's guess.

But just removing the strategist will likely throw their plan into disarray quickly.

 

[darkstarling]

Probably depends how the shard in question decides to interpret it. So... anyone's guess.

But just removing the strategist will likely throw their plan into disarray quickly.

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Yeah. Whether the augments stay turned on after the cape in question is killed is open ended but tactics have to be adapted on the fly.

Probably better to capture the augmenter and make them drop the effect.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

You nod. "Gesellschaft, on the other hand, is an active threat that we can expect to be acting against our objectives both overtly and behind the scenes. We've fired an early shot, it would be a mistake not to keep up the pressure now."

"Gesellschaft delenda est?" Myrdin says in an amused tone.

"Essentially," you reply with a slight grin. Not that you feel Rome had much of a moral high ground to stand on in the Punic Wars, but you get his meaning.

"I'm inclined to agree," says Narwhal, "but that does leave the question of where we attack them. They may well be the most international criminal organization on Earth!"

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They're pretty dangerous so getting rid of them would be great.

"Gesellschaft already knows we're coming for them," Surdoué says, "they just don't know where. And we can keep them guessing by asking every country with Gesellschaft presence for the right to operate on their soil."

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That's smart.

"One can hope so," says Chubster. "You heard the latest from Dunst?"

"I can't say I've had the time, no."

Chevalier pipes in. "He's been taking your work in Jacksonville, and saying, if you could do that in two days, then it's proof that you could restore law and order to the USA in a single year if you didn't 'waste time' in 'foreign adventures'."

"Talk about greedy," Laser Fist rolls her eyes. "We take out two S-Class threats in his country, and he demands more."

"That is the reason," Narwhal points out. "The fact that his country is now indebted to the Guild throws a wrench in his discourse. He has to double-down to convince the American people they're being underserved." She turns her gaze to you. "I'm inclined to agree with your reasoning about gesellschaft. I'll arrange talks with Victoire. What do we do about the rest of our targets?"

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Dunst had an interlude about that where we saw his reactions to the Guild's actions.

"I don't want to be pushy," says Multi-Hit, "but my superiors have expressed displeasure about the Guild having several Indian members yet not showing up in India or any bordering country. And… you've all seen how useful Borrower can be to the team."

"Borrower's awesome and we should recruit her full-time ASAP," says Harmonic, "but she's also a Muslim and not happy about how the Prime Minister is treating Muslims."

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Yeah the guild is made up of a lot of people and most members who are backed by their countries are expecting it to pay off for them.

Skull King was probably one of the top 20 most powerful villains in the country. Op Center, meanwhile, is in the running for first place.

Op Center is a Tinker, rated 7 (though some argue 8). There's some disagreement on whether his Tinker specialization is sensors or data-gathering tools (a subtle distinction, you're told), but he is most well-known for the "Golden Eyes" he creates - cybernetic eyes that he has implanted in some of his minions (and which, once implanted, can pass for the real thing barring special scanning tools). A minion with a Golden Eye is constantly fed additional information about the world around him - Red White's intel indicates the tinkertech implants provide so much data about the people around them and their surroundings (not to mention significant combat prediction data) that they effectively qualify as a mid-range Thinker power all on their own. This is besides some other features… one of which being, they effectively ensure that everything the implanted minions see and hear, Op Center knows as well.

In practice, this means that Op Center can significantly empower a number of minions (most of whom are already parahumans to begin with), have confidence that they can't hide secrets from him, and gather frightening amounts of intelligence on whoever his organization deals with. These advantages, combined with some significant competence and several extremely powerful parahumans under his command, have allowed Op Center to build a massive organization estimated to employ between 500 and 600 parahumans across Indonesia - in the ballpark of 3% of the country's total supervillain population. This organization, the Pusat Kekuasaan, grabs a share of the pie of underworld activities in every major Indonesian city - drug dealing, racketeering, human trafficking, sex trafficking, organ trafficking, arms smuggling, but also white collar crime and blackmail. In addition to having a turnover measured in billions of dollar-equivalents, the Pusat Kekuasaan also has significant control over Indonesia's corporate world, and it's an open secret that it has many local and a number of national politicians in its pocket, be it through bribery or extortion. This affords the organization significant protection from law enforcement, limiting Red White's options even further.

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The villains in both powers, position and operating methods are written to be really compelling as always.

"He's probably got all sorts of deadman switches," says Tattletale. "You throw him in the Birdcage, you can expect a lot of blackmail material to actually get released."

Iron Snake pauses to consider, then his expression hardens. "Acceptable. It might do more harm than good, it might do more good than harm, but we don't stand a chance if we let that bastard corrupt our government."

"I don't think the government needed much help," Tattletale smirks.

Iron Snake gives her a nonplussed stare. "I grew up under an actual dictatorship, girl. Don't get smart with me."

"Have you met me?"

"Ahem," you say. "My point is, we need to neutralize Op Center and destroy the Pusat Kekuasaan, but this will require actual preparation, which I suggest we get started on - ideally, we can handle them shortly after delivering a crippling blow to the Front Pour La Patrie."

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Tattletale means well but it makes sense she'd occasionally grate on people, and she's pretty young and without the sheer exposure to stuff like this.

…And then, in 2002, the Simurgh appeared in Lausanne, destroyed Switzerland, created a worldwide banking crisis, and unleashed multiple "Simurgh bombs" upon the world - one of which was one of the most emblematic Croatian heroes murdering Serbia's Prime Minister, a moderate who had wanted to normalize relations with fellow Balkan nations; much of his cabinet also perished in the attack. His successor was an extremist who escalated the resulting conflict into outright war, which in a bloody domino effect came to rage across all ex-Yugoslavian nations. This wasn't the 90s anymore - by this point, the combined pressure of Endbringers, worldwide economic depression, and rising supervillainy, meant the rest of the world could not be bothered to meaningfully intervene.

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Really like that this was included.

"A… Avatar," the middle-aged Serbian, who had been a middle-manager in the city's administration before Sava's Crusade took it and subsequently became a civilian administrator of sorts for the Crusade, gazes at you in mounting dread. "I, I swear, I wasn't an accomplice to-"

"I know," you stop him. "You hid Albanian children in your attic, you leaked patrol schedules to people trying to escape the city, and you've been deliberately misplacing ammo shipments to slow down the mass-executions."

He blinks. "How… How do you know all that?"

You smile. "I have some friends who are very good detectives." Tattletale wasn't available for this - too busy with the work the Guild has hired her for - but Mister Clue has been following your bodycam all day, and Borrower, with permission, has been using short bursts of Mister Clue's power combined with Tattletale's. "I've made sure that the rest of the city knows it too."

"OK," he says, allowing himself to breathe. "Good. That's good. But, why are you here…?"

"First, to thank you for your heroism," you reply. "There are hundreds, possibly thousands alive today who'd have died without your courage.

"But also, to ask you to do more," you add solemnly. "I'm sorry to do that when you've already risked life and limb. However, as things stand, this land is being torn apart by hatred, strife, and of course the usual greed and lust for power. There's a whole generation currently growing up in the Balkans for whom this is the new normal - neighbor against neighbor, without humanity or hope that tomorrow will be better than today.

"The people need a reminder that working for a better tomorrow is possible.

"The people need to know that some people will help even those whom they are expected to hate.

"The people need to be reminded of what heroism is." You pause. "Mr. Kralj. I want you, and others like you whom I hope to find in time, to speak up. To be examples I can hold up for everyone in this land to see, and remind them that a better way exists."

He's looking even more overwhelmed than when he thought you were there to execute him as a collaborator. "Sir, I… I'm nothing special. There are plenty others!"

"You're not wrong!" you say with a smile. "I'm sure if I looked closely, I could find dozens, maybe hundreds in this city who, like you, are brave and true in the face of evil and danger. But you were at the right place and the right time to make a big difference, Mr. Kralj. Of course," you grin, "if you can find more heroes for this, I'll be glad for the additional help!"

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Avatar is a charisma and inspiration monster.

Officially, Brainbox is a Las Vegas-based Rogue. His Thinker power allows him, whenever he considers a plan, to come up with useful suggestions to improve the plan's odds of working - even if he has no idea why those suggestions would help, nor the information he would need to come up with them. He sells his services to individuals, corporations, and government agencies - to the limited extent that the law in Earth-Bet's USA will allow it.

Less officially, Brainbox is too rich for his legitimate work to be his primary source of revenue. It's an open secret that he does some consulting work for corporations (and possibly politicians) that is in breach of regulations on the commercialization of parahuman abilities… and, in all likelihood, he probably does the occasional bit of work for villains.

Still not officially, the Las Vegas PRT doesn't bother putting the screws on him because, every now and then, he'll throw them a bone and do some free work for them behind the scenes, when they're trying to outmaneuver a villain and want to improve their odds as much as possible.

In short, Brainbox is a mercenary. And thanks to the bounty on the Slaughterhouse Nine, the Guild can easily afford his fee.

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Huh that's a pretty good niche he's found for himself.

"I'm actually giving you a 20% discount," he says smugly. "What can I say? You people took down Jack Slash and Nilbog. It's inspiring." His smirk turns into a frown as he checks his seat. "Seriously, you can afford my fees, but you can't afford comfortable chairs?"

"I'm actually annoyed you get paid more than me," says Tattletale, "even though I'm several times more useful. I think I should be renegotiating my contract."

"Wait, he gets paid more?" you say in faux surprise. "I thought we were only paying him money! Are you saying he's also being paid in his best friend actually being proud of him?"

"You think you're funny," Tattletale rolls her eyes in an attempt at maintaining a facade of emotional distance.

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Being a good guy can pay off.

"Wait, are you saying we're going into this fight without Eidolon?" says Météore.

"Not exactly. Eidolon can contribute, just not be seen contributing. Which means either acting as remote Thinker support… or as a Stranger."

"...Hell, Eidolon going all out on Stranger abilities sounds terrifying," says Iron Snake. "With that said, what actually is the plan? These guys hold territory the way gangs do, not the way warlords do. So how do we force them to come out and fight us?"

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Yeah that would be scary.

One advantage of the Guild's expanded budget is the ability to hire consultants like Brainbox.

Another one is the ability to buy more tinkertech from independents Tinkers. Sure, Toybox has generously been doing a lot of pro bono work for the Guild these past weeks, but you don't want to rely exclusively on their goodwill (though of course, the Guild's use of Toybox's gifts has been a boon for them in terms of free advertisement).

Among the things you have acquired from them? Is a small set of invisibility belts. With one such belt, you fly from the hidden room the Guild's been waiting at, going at barely-subsonic speeds while using your cosmic power pool to suppress the sound. Within seconds, you are in range.

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Gear is useful.

Switching to communication powers, you manifest a hologram of yourself right next to him, even while you blast one of the Front's villains. This guy doesn't deserve to get through his speech without interruption. "That's a truly shameless argument coming from the villain whose entire ideology is that the French people shouldn't have a say in their destiny, but instead be ruled with an iron fist by an unelected elite that never has to answer to the people it rules," you speak through the hologram. "But then, you are a thief, a bully, a violent brute, and," you glance at Le Chevalier Gallant, the Restoration's aerokinesist, "infamous for protecting rapists as long as they're willing to fight for your profit, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're also a hypocrite."

If, as you assume, he's got cameras filming him right now, then you've ruined his entrance and your hologram is right next to him in the videos. That rather limits the propaganda value the Restoration can get out of them.

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Charisma for the win.

"They're doing too well," says Tattletale. "They're suddenly kicking your ass. Near-perfect tactics. Martel's good, but this is way beyond his usual. He's got a boost from Bemyndiga."

Bemyndiga is a Trump from Sweden and a member of Asgard, the pan-Scandinavian branch of Gesellschaft. He can provide boosts to parahuman abilities that last for hours - the nature of the boost is always specific to the cape he's empowering.

Bemyndiga is one of the biggest assets Asgard and Gesellschaft have. Odds are, he boosted Martel and other key members of the Front while the hostilities were escalating and was then evacuated - out of Paris, possibly out of France if they have the Mover powers for that.

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Taking out an asset like that is great.

"Strider down!"

"They're not finishing him off, but they're keeping him in a killbox," Tattletale's voice has the tell-tale signs of a starting headache born of power overuse. "They want Avatar to go rescue him before he's finished regenerating."

And if you don't, then not only is Strider in danger, the Guild is fighting without its best teleporter.

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That's clever.

Back during the planning phase:

"Hm. One thing you'll want to do," Brainbox says. "Getting the French members of the European Brigade to help you against the Front is fine, but you want the rest of the Brigade to be at full readiness to intervene in other parts of Paris."

Director Wayland looks dubious. "The European Brigade got some credit with the people of Paris for taking down Les Damnés, but even so, having them fight the Front is a double-edged sword."

"Hey, my friend, I don't know why it's a good idea," Brainbox shrugs. "Power says it's a good idea, I'm just the messenger."

"We'll inform the Brigade," Narwhal nods.

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Good thing we took countermeasures.

In some good news, Eidolon - completely undetectable - was able to take out several Front capes and unpowered gunmen, allowing Go-Go (who is equipped with another of the invisibility belts you got from Toybox) to teleport Strider to the field hospital. Borrower brings in Météore and one of the Irréductibles.

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Eidolon putting in good work.

 

[Dmol8]

Can someone please humble Tattletale? Her snarky, know-it-all attitude is so annoying and it's being reinforced with the Guild wanting her help.

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Her own power literally can't do that. Tattletale's cynicism and snarkiness is a result of the world kicking her life in new and interesting ways until the Avatar interrupt. Until she manages to process her own trauma she is stuck this way.

Do note that these guys have conquered Pristina and are in the process of butchering the population.
With that said, I wrote that passage months ago and don't actually remember the research I did before deciding on the name Sava's Crusade, so I'm open to corrections if they come with convincing explanations!

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If I had to guess it would be because of the Church of Saint Sava. The building was finished in 2004, but the Church interior was still being worked on in 2022 and I can't find if it has been properly consecrated as a complete Church yet now in 2024.

Saint Sava is both the founder of the independent Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Saint of Public Education. So a Sava's Crusade conquering Priština on the way to Hilandar makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that it is called a Crusade. It would be more like something along the lines of March for Sava in that case.

We Serbs don't use the term Crusade for that sort of thing.

As for Knez Lazar he's the Serbian Saint most related to fighting in Kosovo alongside Miloš Obilić. So if you are just going for a local militia invading Priština for specifically the ethnic cleansing/genocide then go with one of these: Marš na Kosovo/March on Kosovo, Obilićeve Delije/Obilic's Heroes and Lazarova Straža/Lazar's Watch.

Uhhhh somehow I doubt public education and general thematic consistency are the strongest in the decades of genocidal warfare that's ravaged the area.

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As mentioned above Saint Sava is both the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and our national/ethnic Saint of Public Education. There are actual heroes in this clusterfuck who are fighting for at least Serbian children to have access to good public education because of that. At least some of them are called Vuk/Wolf.

There are also multiple Tinker Heroes calling themselves the King of Midnight or something to that theme because that is a heroic name people across Yugoslavia grew up with in the 80s and 90s and would use it to try and rally the people in the streets.

What we need to do (which is a kinda eh thing, but meh) is find a regenerator who isn't also a super effective blaster/mover/frontliner/etc to pair with Voodoo for healing, so that the Avatar isn't so locked in to soaking Voodoo's damage.

Click to shrink...

Well we are helping heal Pagoda both mentally and physically:

And then…

"Avatar. I understand you're staying for the cleanup."

"The Mexico City Protectorate is explicitly not requesting my presence for the next 24 hours, and the Guild is not making a move for the duration unless the Brazilian cartels are. I can dedicate my time to the cleanup, as you say - including helping Panacea disentangle Murder Rat and Pagoda."

"Understandable from a humanitarian perspective," she replied, "but I'd be shocked if Mouse Protector was fit for duty in years to come." Not that she would have wanted Mouse Protector on the ENE Protectorate, of course - the girl was popular with the general public, there was no denying it, but not so much with the people she worked with. She seemed determined to always say whatever infuriated people the most, be they allies or enemies - at best, her teammates grudgingly tolerated her.

Piggot chased away those thoughts - that was neither here nor there. Mouse Protector, even in the most optimistic scenario, was going to spend years off-duty and in therapy… and she was still luckier than many of the Slaughterhouse's victims.

There would be no new Slaughterhouse victims. That thought felt odd - the Nine had practically become a fixture of life in the Protectorate.

Click to shrink...

so Regenerators are on the table for the Guild to recruit. Hopefully after this fight we will look into dedicated regenerators for just that purpose.

 

[sun tzu]

[ ] Stick to regeneration, have Voodoo transfer Strider and Météore's injuries to you. They're not life-threatening, but having your best teleporter and a flying artillery back into the fray will help and you'll be back to full functionality in 30 seconds, 40 top.

[ ] Get back into the fight immediately. With the possible exception of Eidolon, you're the heaviest hitter the heroes have.

[ ] Help the European Brigade deal with the riots and armed heists. They have eight different hotspots to deal with.

[ ] Prioritize finding and neutralizing Martel. You've worked with Bleu-Blanc-Rouge long enough to understand how a tactical genius can spell the doom of a seemingly superior force.

 

[sun tzu]

Her own power literally can't do that. Tattletale's cynicism and snarkiness is a result of the world kicking her life in new and interesting ways until the Avatar interrupt. Until she manages to process her own trauma she is stuck this way.



If I had to guess it would be because of the Church of Saint Sava. The building was finished in 2004, but the Church interior was still being worked on in 2022 and I can't find if it has been properly consecrated as a complete Church yet now in 2024.

Saint Sava is both the founder of the independent Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Saint of Public Education. So a Sava's Crusade conquering Priština on the way to Hilandar makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that it is called a Crusade. It would be more like something along the lines of March for Sava in that case.

We Serbs don't use the term Crusade for that sort of thing.

As for Knez Lazar he's the Serbian Saint most related to fighting in Kosovo alongside Miloš Obilić. So if you are just going for a local militia invading Priština for specifically the ethnic cleansing/genocide then go with one of these: Marš na Kosovo/March on Kosovo, Obilićeve Delije/Obilic's Heroes and Lazarova Straža/Lazar's Watch.



As mentioned above Saint Sava is both the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and our national/ethnic Saint of Public Education. There are actual heroes in this clusterfuck who are fighting for at least Serbian children to have access to good public education because of that. At least some of them are called Vuk/Wolf.

There are also multiple Tinker Heroes calling themselves the King of Midnight or something to that theme because that is a heroic name people across Yugoslavia grew up with in the 80s and 90s and would use it to try and rally the people in the streets.

Click to shrink...

Interesting! Thanks for the explanation.
Now, it's worth remembering that History (and thus culture) has diverged from our own in the early 80s, so things may have gone differently. At this stage, there are no proper States and governments in ex-Yugoslavia, just a mish-mash of warlords and militias. So who knows what they say at this stage.
But it sounds like "Sava's March" or "Lazar's March" would be more authentic?

 

[CorellianJedi]

I'm reading some other stuff right now, but in a little bit I'll come back and share my thoughts on what's the best option, also quick question @sun tzu would it be possible to combine options if we worded it right?

 

[darkstarling]

More Avatar theme music


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4RbGyALJx8

Her own power literally can't do that. Tattletale's cynicism and snarkiness is a result of the world kicking her life in new and interesting ways until the Avatar interrupt. Until she manages to process her own trauma she is stuck this way.



If I had to guess it would be because of the Church of Saint Sava. The building was finished in 2004, but the Church interior was still being worked on in 2022 and I can't find if it has been properly consecrated as a complete Church yet now in 2024.

Saint Sava is both the founder of the independent Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Saint of Public Education. So a Sava's Crusade conquering Priština on the way to Hilandar makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that it is called a Crusade. It would be more like something along the lines of March for Sava in that case.

We Serbs don't use the term Crusade for that sort of thing.

As for Knez Lazar he's the Serbian Saint most related to fighting in Kosovo alongside Miloš Obilić. So if you are just going for a local militia invading Priština for specifically the ethnic cleansing/genocide then go with one of these: Marš na Kosovo/March on Kosovo, Obilićeve Delije/Obilic's Heroes and Lazarova Straža/Lazar's Watch.



As mentioned above Saint Sava is both the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and our national/ethnic Saint of Public Education. There are actual heroes in this clusterfuck who are fighting for at least Serbian children to have access to good public education because of that. At least some of them are called Vuk/Wolf.

There are also multiple Tinker Heroes calling themselves the King of Midnight or something to that theme because that is a heroic name people across Yugoslavia grew up with in the 80s and 90s and would use it to try and rally the people in the streets.



Well we are helping heal Pagoda both mentally and physically:



so Regenerators are on the table for the Guild to recruit. Hopefully after this fight we will look into dedicated regenerators for just that purpose.

Click to shrink...

Okay that's a lot of really good information. Thanks!

If we recruit a regenerator as a damage sponge, well, doing that even remotely ethically is hard. To say the least. I think we actually want a bio-tinker to make brainless meat clones that count as human enough for Voodoo's power to work on without needing a person volunteering for agonizing pain. Bonus points if the bodies regenerate of course.

Could Panacea make something like that? I bet Panacea could make something like that.

We've also established that Echidna Clones are soulless monsters with no possibility of redemption. Now, it's bad to make even such a thing suffer unnecessarily. But if they can be killed without moral consequences then we can do it in a way that leaves their body still alive. The trouble is keeping them dead. But that's a worse option for a number of reasons.

Still. Start with an Echidna Clone of a regenerator. Panacea kills them by removing their brain in a way that won't grow back. Keep the body on life support. We've got a Voodoo Doll.

In other news, WHY AM I LIKE THIS?!?!?!?

 

[FunkyEntropy]

I'm leaning going after Martel purely in the basis he took out best girl Dragon.

(Also because he's a force multiplier)

 

[sunsunsunsunsun]

[X] Prioritize finding and neutralizing Martel. You've worked with Bleu-Blanc-Rouge long enough to understand how a tactical genius can spell the doom of a seemingly superior force.

 

[Carcer]

[X] Prioritize finding and neutralizing Martel. You've worked with Bleu-Blanc-Rouge long enough to understand how a tactical genius can spell the doom of a seemingly superior force.

 

[Dmol8]

Interesting! Thanks for the explanation.
Now, it's worth remembering that History (and thus culture) has diverged from our own in the early 80s, so things may have gone differently. At this stage, there are no proper States and governments in ex-Yugoslavia, just a mish-mash of warlords and militias. So who knows what they say at this stage.
But it sounds like "Sava's March" or "Lazar's March" would be more authentic?

Click to shrink...

Yup pretty much. Lets just say that the if Edit: the Warhammer 40k setting was made in Serbia instead of Edit: the UK the word used in that AU version of it wouldn't be Crusade, but March instead.

If we recruit a regenerator as a damage sponge, well, doing that even remotely ethically is hard. To say the least. I think we actually want a bio-tinker to make brainless meat clones that count as human enough for Voodoo's power to work on without needing a person volunteering for agonizing pain. Bonus points if the bodies regenerate of course.

Could Panacea make something like that? I bet Panacea could make something like that.

We've also established that Echidna Clones are soulless monsters with no possibility of redemption. Now, it's bad to make even such a thing suffer unnecessarily. But if they can be killed without moral consequences then we can do it in a way that leaves their body still alive. The trouble is keeping them dead. But that's a worse option for a number of reasons.

Still. Start with an Echidna Clone of a regenerator. Panacea kills them by removing their brain in a way that won't grow back. Keep the body on life support. We've got a Voodoo Doll.

In other news, WHY AM I LIKE THIS?!?!?!?

Click to shrink...

Because you have been raised in a Protestant Society of the USA and the idea of fearing/suspecting any sort of Mortification to the point that the use of some sort of slave/human sacrifice instead of it is considered Morally Better is something you had been taught trough if nothing else cultural osmosis?

Edit: Forgot to put the in front of words in the grammatically proper place two times.

 

[CorellianJedi]

[ ] Stick to regeneration, have Voodoo transfer Strider and Météore's injuries to you. They're not life-threatening, but having your best teleporter and a flying artillery back into the fray will help and you'll be back to full functionality in 30 seconds, 40 top.

Click to shrink...

This one is good, having Strider and Météore back in the fight would be good, but at the risk of sounding callous there are other more important things to do right now, though if it's an option to do so I would like to combine this with any one of the other voting options, as though it would take a little bit it wouldn't take so long as to make this option mutually exclusive with the rest.

[ ] Get back into the fight immediately. With the possible exception of Eidolon, you're the heaviest hitter the heroes have.

Click to shrink...

I almost feel like this would be playing in their hands, going to fight while we're still trying to heal Strider and Météore, besides we've got plenty of other heavy hitters who could fight against their front line parahumans, but this is a valid enough option, just I don't know if it's the most wise.

[ ] Help the European Brigade deal with the riots and armed heists. They have eight different hotspots to deal with.

Click to shrink...

I feel like the European Brigade has got this handled, though I suppose if we went in to help it wouldn't take too long to handle, but I don't know if our help is too necessary here.

[ ] Prioritize finding and neutralizing Martel. You've worked with Bleu-Blanc-Rouge long enough to understand how a tactical genius can spell the doom of a seemingly superior force.

Click to shrink...

I feel like this is the one we should do, Martel has been a big problem for us so far, helping the coordination of several of the Front's capes as to cripple or disable several of our allies, this should be an immediate priority, the sooner we take them out the sooner the Front will lose their best Thinker and their coordination should accordingly decrease by quite a bit.

Though if it's possible I would like to combine this with healing Strider and Météore, as it says that it would take 30 to 40 seconds to heal from their injuries and that wouldn't take too long to do, and afterwards our allies could have a powerful teleporter back on the field to transport them around from trouble spot to trouble spot, and to transfer any injured to our field hospital and healers, and a heavy hitter to fight against their capes.