- Location
- I am located here.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Fun PHO interlude, but …
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Contractual Villainy
- Thread starter Sandy River DL
- Start date
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
It's the prompt for anyone who wants to contribute to the Interlude. Hence it being labeled as 'Neolithic PHO Prompt'.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
*Nom nom nom*
Actually starting out on a blank canvas virgin Earth with that sort of power must be making her shard dance in glee. It's the closest thing they can get to actually starting with two rocks and a stick they can. That it let's Taylor speed up the development to build the civilization within a lifetime makes it great too.
Edit: fixed typos
YuffieK
(Verified Ninja Princess)
So Taylor has QA micromanagement capabilities attached to Eden's version of the Helm Core, and is currently playing Civilization with no opponents and a perfect starting location.
I guess Taylor's power testing and questions afterward led to Contessa adding "Path to a Backup Plan" to her list. Probably the most sensible thing she's done.
- Location
- SoCal
If he triggered because he was failing to provide due to the DWU being worse off than canon, that may have developed into a fixation with his screwed up interpretation of being a provider as explained by Sandy. Trigger trauma plus shard mental influences, if any, could make it even worse. That may even fit into his power: not enough hours in the day or hands to do it leads to a power making more of him to get things done and a drive to work constantly.
edit: left a word out
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- Pronouns
- They/Them/She/Her
According to the chapter, though, Danny joined the Protectorate much earlier than that, unless I'm getting the timeline very wrong?YuffieK said:
The relevant bit:
Sandy River DL said:
IIRC, that was after she ran away.ShiftingSandLand said:
Ah, from Neolithic I:
Sandy River DL said:
Ah, thanks for the confirmation.Sandy River DL said:
...Oooookay, wow, that is significantly worse than I'd previosly thought the situation was, and that was still pretty bad. Yeah, good thing she got out when she did.
Ah, and for that confirmation as well; thanks!Sandy River DL said:
And for the other information in that post!
Makes sense. After all, Taylor is presumably not at all interested in trying to track Danny down, while Danny and his coworkers are quite interested in finding out what happened to her. And they don't even need to get to the point of "She's that new homeless villain" for it to start looking like Danny badly messed up.
The thing is, though, this is surely a potential issues the Protectorate itself is aware of, behind the public PR. And even if one models them as completely self-interested and callous, given how much of a vulnerability a family could be (including to said PR), it seems unlikely they didn't try to offer help here. Since help didn't come, that suggests to me that Danny actively turned it away.outwrangle said:
...Hm. I suppose it could be a Cauldron plot, precog leading them to turn official help away from Danny before they even knew why, but apart from something like that...
Ah, thanks.Sandy River DL said:
Ahh, thanks.
Hm. I think, IIRC, it was basically the sort of thing I expected? Some variety in detail and neither in them or in whole badly done, but not striking me as all that remarkable, either, at least in comparison to the thing with Danny.
I think the information on how the Heroes handle stealing-to-survive villains was more remarkable (It makes sense, but it's not something I'd thought of ahead of time, nor do I think I'd have been much surprised if they hadn't had a light-touch policy there. I mean, I think the light-touch policy is a better idea than its absence here, but the Heroes in Wormfic are not noted for always only having good ideas.
), though, you know, still kind of paling next to the Danny thing, sorry.Oh, though, looking back, I did think of a comment on one thing regarding Emma: when she's deciding to follow Legion or not, she compares her power and his with an eye towards whether she could beat him in a fight or not. The fact that Legion's been an officially-sanction Hero for months now, and that this is taking place inside the PRT headquarters, wasn't mentioned at all in her consideration. That seems to me like it says something about how much she trusts the people she's in theory on the same side as, and might say something about her views of what it is to be a hero in general.
Oh, yeah, he's not cacklingly evil or anything, and I think the reason he did what he did, as I understand it, is understandable. It is still the case, though, that he messed up so badly that Taylor's only alive right now because of the particular form someone else's active attempt to abuse her took.
I mean, yeah. Taylor's life on Bet pre-powers may have been worse, but Skitter didn't get a whole other planet to herself pretty much right away.
And since [OVERSEER] is not as dumb as Leet's shard, presumably it will respond to that by helping her get to the large-scale projects.Sandy River DL said:
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
No idea what a Helm Core is, but Cauldron hasn't realized that they've produced a Tinker that makes Hero and Sphere look like children playing with Legos. The recall anchors are useful to them, which is why DM made arraignments with Tay to make more for their use, but she's empowered by a 'mid-tier' Tinker vial, so she can't have that much of interest available to her...
Absent for almost four weeks, including missing Christmas, and then shows up overnight asking what happened to all the food? In a way that implies she did something wrong? Yeah, Taylor would not take that well, especially with all her other stressors.
More along the lines of handling Danny like they handle Dauntless, expecting him to be an adult who can handle his family life on his own without hand-holding. So they believed him when he told them that he could be on-call for a few weeks without issue. And Cauldron cleaning up after Emma for blackmail purposes incidentally got rid of a few critical indicators of Danny being neglectful.
Would've thought that Emma planning to leverage her position in the Wards into becoming warlord of the Bay would be of more interest... Ah well.
- Location
- usa
She's a little shit, yeah, but I couldn't take her megalomania seriously considering there is a Gallant on the team who would pick up the sheer transactionalism of her trying to 'steal' him from Glory Girl, and if she's not competent enough to know when stealing a boyfriend is doomed to fail, all I imagine her moonlighting as a warlord would end with is a Tinker tranq in her butt in the middle of an evil monologue.
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Wait, Emma is planning to do what!
And here I thought that she was just going for the same setup as she had going for her in Winslow
Probably because it's impossible to take Emma seriously when we all have the meta knowledge of how far Taylor can and will go.
Sure she's a blaster, but you've got Taylor 'I can create a control group civilization for funsies' on the other side, not even getting into the fact that she's in the classic big fish-little pond to little fish-big pond situation in regards to the Wards.
I wouldn't be surprised if she manages to tick off Sophia somehow by the end of this.
jcfiala
Code Monkey
- Location
- Denver, CO
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I honestly don't see that from the interlude? I went back and re-read through it, and I still don't see it.
That said, like other folks, I can't take the idea of Emma trying to become any kind of warlord seriously. She's able to control high schoolers, but as the low girl on the totem pole in the wards, she's already rubbing up against the other members in such a way that they're not going to go along with her plans. If she wanted to social fu her way into things, then she should be a whole lot nicer to her new teammates.
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
I would not trust the guy who thought a girl resenting him was actually crushing on him to recognize that the megalomaniac is only interested in having a boytoy. She also isn't planning on just going up to him and saying 'date me instead of Vicky', but drawing him into her way of thinking before picking him up after Vicky dumps him.
And her plan isn't 'have a separate villain persona'. She intends to build an actual power base as a Ward.
There's a few others earlier in the Interlude, but this is the most blatant.
On the other hand, Taylor's not aiming to destroy Emma. Her endgame is having a more-or-less self sufficient settlement on Tǩóymos and depriving her former friend of any glory from beating her under the contract. Foiling a plot she isn't even aware of isn't on the agenda.
As for Emma and the Wards? This Emma may not be as smart as Taylor, but she's also not the socially skilled dumbass she counterpart in Nemesis is. Will she succeed in turning the Wards? Stick around to find out.
Evilreadermaximu
Unimpressed Asgard
Holy shit that is broken as hell.
Well at least anyone who goofs from here on out can reassure themselves that didn't dun goofed as bad as Emma Barnes.
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Broken? Dear sir, I can assure you that it's perfectly balanced and exploit-free. Using Taylor's power requires a fair amount of grinding for resources to fuel bootstrapping loops and she has Yorkshire tea! There's no way this is overpowered and game breaking, TheSpiffingBrit told me so!
Steakthedog
Verified Pedant
It's a BattleTech reference. The Helm Core, named for the planet it was found on, was basically a data store that held a bunch of LosTech that ended up being used to help restore tech (kinda) to a very war torn Inner Sphere, as they'd only witching the last couple decades finished with the Third Succession War. The first two had nukes and bio weapons being thrown around like candy, and the third was basically just a slow boil conflict w/ border wars because they'd massively destroyed the infrastructure and production capabilities of the Inner Sphere.
Potatothecat
Well then, I hope they get in a better situation soon, turning to villainy is probably the worst thing you can do I feel.
But I'm also in a better-ish position, so what do I know.
Potatothecat
Right, I guess Imma get in my bunker (not that I actually have one but the basement works.) as there's now fire goin' all over the place.
I'll give an update if I can get out unscathed.
- Location
- usa
...Now all I can think about is Emma taking over the bay, only to be really confused and pissed off when there's no one left in it because they all signed on with Taylor for a permanent tropical vacation
Steakthedog
Verified Pedant
Is it Factorio time? I think it's Factorio time.
We're off to industrialize the planet, the wonderful planet of notour!Earth!
Mal-3
Fun Tyrant
Well, honestly... her scheme is so tangential to Taylor's current character trajectory that outside the Nemesis contract it's basically irrelevant. Taylor's entire plan is to survive the contract without getting captured, then retire to her tropical hot springs resort / doom factory with a select group of easily-flustered lesbians and tend her garden. Yeah, Emma's planning to take over Brockton Bay and she might even succeed (Press X to doubt.) but that's not Taylor's problem. This particular iteration of Taylor hasn't shown any sort of heroic impulse or sentiment towards her home town that would lead her to care whether or not Emma Barnes rules it. Hell, she might even think that the iron fist of Regina George is what the city deserves!
The Danny thing is more interesting because it explains a) what the hell was going on that brought Taylor into this situation, b) showcases his total and ongoing failure as a parent, and c) actually adds a narrative hook to keep Taylor directly antagonistic with the Protectorate. Emma's a nuisance outside of her Cauldron obligations; Danny is somebody she has every right to hate and is more likely to come after him with intent to maim once she puts it together.
Be funny as hell to have a scene where Emma lays into Danny about how Hausōs is her Nemesis and he should quit poaching, followed by an angry phone call to Doctor Mother about the whole thing.
Emily Piggot set down the report of the ... interaction. Witnessed by four PRT uniforms, a PRT detective, and what looked like half of the Wards Support team. Then set down her coffee mug. Pinched the bridge of her nose. Inhaled. Sighed out a long, long, exasperated breath. "Even for a cape, this one sets new standards for being nuttier than squirrel-shit."
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Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
I'll be starting assembling the actual PHO interlude in an hour or so, so last call for submissions.
Its a combination of metaknowledge, how she's portrait (Vista coining her as a Brandish Expy, or as a nutter) and her presumed power.
It feels like background noise, since from what we 'know' Emma has nothing to build on, and even if she somehow ends up succeeding, it still wouldn't actually matter: They both have entirely different goals, win conditions, and scale, without the shenanigans of Canon, the Bay is just a dead end.
Infact their 'domains' reflect their powers: The Bay had already peaked, while Tay has barely begun to tap into hers.
- Location
- Bowling Green
If she actually had any chance at it, then it would be. However she isn't the first child with plans for "World Domination" and she has definitely not put in the time or effort needed to even begin doing anything actually necessary for it.
I maybe give her a 1% chance to succed when she manages to turn the current wards into her minions and has the patience to wait till they all graduated to the proctorate.Only to have her torn apart by the villains.5 minutes with TT and she is a sobbing wreck.
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Nah, I can see her become Warlord over ALL THAT REMAINS OF BROCKTON BAY (yes, capitalization was needed here). When Levi has passed through and everyone else has left