Doing the things (Snippets, Oneshots, and Ideas thread)
- Thread starter UnwelcomeStorm
- Start date
- Location
- Norway
I want this yesterday.
But no, seriously, I think it has serious potential, regardless of whether you go for a super serious and grim-dark (or grim-derp) route, or just want to mess around and have fun.
UnwelcomeStorm
BARK! BARK! BARK!
- Location
- United States
I Am The Law (3)
UnwelcomeStorm
BARK! BARK! BARK!
- Location
- United States
I Am The Law (3)
It wasn't chickening out, not exactly. It just wasn't a good time for such a drastic move. There was research to be done on precedents, and an art project to re-do, and more classes to skip because of teenagers in general being a horrible hive mind of social jockeying and abuse. It wasn't that she was worried about marching into a Protectorate building and admitting to having Lung et al in questionably-legal custody. The processing time for which was running out, Taylor's power helpfully reminded her, so if she was going to get them extradited she had better do it soon. That or demand bail from the ABB, which didn't sound like it had many ways of going well for anyone.
Which was why Taylor was on the Boardwalk, repeating increasingly hollow-sounding justifications for the delay to herself. The Rig gleamed out on the Bay, whispering vague promises of heroism and definitely not-- not--
Taylor sighed. She couldn't think of any real reasons to distrust the PRT, just paranoia. And not wanting to answer questions. Or submit to an authority higher than herself. That last one kind of made her skin crawl. Trying to work up the courage to approach the PRT as an equal was proving about as ludicrous as the thought had first sounded, but she couldn't just stand here and do nothing forever. Taylor drained the last of her soda and tossed the cup into the nearest garbage can, then tucked her hands back in her hoodie as she pulled away from the railing she'd been leaning on for a good half hour. Should she maybe call first? That would be less surprising than just walking up in full armor, maybe she could explain and make an appointment…
Cold fire raced along Taylor's scalp. A fight! There was a fight starting! She could feel her power start to pull at her, saw the horns of her helmet start to intrude on her peripheral vision. She couldn't see any commotion nearby, but-- were those sirens? That ephemeral sense tugged a bit harder, in the same direction. A fight. An engagement, six blocks away. It needed an arbiter. Taylor felt her heart beat faster in a strange mix of excitement and longing. She started moving almost on autopilot, then turned and headed for a sidestreet where there'd be fewer eyes to risk being spotted by when she let her power envelop her. The PRT could wait a bit longer, the Judge was needed now.
* * *
Grue moved through the bank's lobby, filling it with his power up past his own waist (much to Regent's displeasure) and blanketing the hostages all huddled in the corner; he ignored their sudden shuffling and confused cries for the moment. Tattletale was already in the manager's office, doing her thing, and disturbing her risked extending this little operation past its safe deadline-- but he needed her input. He shoved his way through the half-open door and watched the Thinker nearly jump out of her skin at the sudden noise. "Tattletale, need you."
"I'm busy, let me finish this!"
"That bird cape just showed up."
"What bir-- oh. Okay, what's she doing?" Tattletale didn't look up, just started typing faster. Her face started to get a rather pinched look to it.
"Nothing, yet. Took a stand halfway between the Wards and the bank, hasn't moved or said anything since. Think she's here to help us again?"
"Not sure. Let me just… there!" Tattletale tapped a few more keys in furious succession, then grinned and nearly skipped around the edge of the desk. "Got what I need, and got a virus getting me what I want, we just need to stall a bit longer."
She waded past Grue and the hostages, and took position near one of the large front windows to look at the developing situation outside. The Wards were still in the semi-circle they'd been in before, but Vista's attention looked strained and Aegis had his head turned to the side, just barely-visible movements of his jaw indicating he was speaking.
"Vista's using her power to let the Wards talk to the bird girl without moving closer-- means she's not paying as much attention to the bank, but as soon as we try to move through her space she'll know. Can't read lips from here, but…" The armored figure on the giant bird shook its head, the motion exaggerated by the shape of her helmet. "...looks like she's not here to help the Wards. But she's not here to help us, either. Has she said anything like--"
At some unseen signal, the armored figure nodded, then blew a loud whistle that cut through the stone walls of the bank and silenced Tattletale's observations. She lifted a gauntlet-clad hand and called out, "Today's laws! Forbidden: Flight! Recommended: Blasters!"
"Oh hell. Someone else just got here-- on the roof. She was waiting for all combatants to arrive. I gotta get my flash drive, quick!"
"Tattletale!"
The armored figure nodded again, and brought down her hand in a sharp motion. "ENGAGE!"
Grue cursed, but instead of the Wards moving forward to trap them all inside, the armored girl blew her whistle again and raised a hand. "Infraction! Yellow card!"
"Shut up, I don't care about your--"
"Infraction! Red card!"
"Hey, wha-- aaahhhhh!"
"Holy shit," Regent started wheezing, and craned his head at the window to get a better look. "I think she just arrested Glory Girl!"
It wasn't chickening out, not exactly. It just wasn't a good time for such a drastic move. There was research to be done on precedents, and an art project to re-do, and more classes to skip because of teenagers in general being a horrible hive mind of social jockeying and abuse. It wasn't that she was worried about marching into a Protectorate building and admitting to having Lung et al in questionably-legal custody. The processing time for which was running out, Taylor's power helpfully reminded her, so if she was going to get them extradited she had better do it soon. That or demand bail from the ABB, which didn't sound like it had many ways of going well for anyone.
Which was why Taylor was on the Boardwalk, repeating increasingly hollow-sounding justifications for the delay to herself. The Rig gleamed out on the Bay, whispering vague promises of heroism and definitely not-- not--
Taylor sighed. She couldn't think of any real reasons to distrust the PRT, just paranoia. And not wanting to answer questions. Or submit to an authority higher than herself. That last one kind of made her skin crawl. Trying to work up the courage to approach the PRT as an equal was proving about as ludicrous as the thought had first sounded, but she couldn't just stand here and do nothing forever. Taylor drained the last of her soda and tossed the cup into the nearest garbage can, then tucked her hands back in her hoodie as she pulled away from the railing she'd been leaning on for a good half hour. Should she maybe call first? That would be less surprising than just walking up in full armor, maybe she could explain and make an appointment…
Cold fire raced along Taylor's scalp. A fight! There was a fight starting! She could feel her power start to pull at her, saw the horns of her helmet start to intrude on her peripheral vision. She couldn't see any commotion nearby, but-- were those sirens? That ephemeral sense tugged a bit harder, in the same direction. A fight. An engagement, six blocks away. It needed an arbiter. Taylor felt her heart beat faster in a strange mix of excitement and longing. She started moving almost on autopilot, then turned and headed for a sidestreet where there'd be fewer eyes to risk being spotted by when she let her power envelop her. The PRT could wait a bit longer, the Judge was needed now.
* * *
Grue moved through the bank's lobby, filling it with his power up past his own waist (much to Regent's displeasure) and blanketing the hostages all huddled in the corner; he ignored their sudden shuffling and confused cries for the moment. Tattletale was already in the manager's office, doing her thing, and disturbing her risked extending this little operation past its safe deadline-- but he needed her input. He shoved his way through the half-open door and watched the Thinker nearly jump out of her skin at the sudden noise. "Tattletale, need you."
"I'm busy, let me finish this!"
"That bird cape just showed up."
"What bir-- oh. Okay, what's she doing?" Tattletale didn't look up, just started typing faster. Her face started to get a rather pinched look to it.
"Nothing, yet. Took a stand halfway between the Wards and the bank, hasn't moved or said anything since. Think she's here to help us again?"
"Not sure. Let me just… there!" Tattletale tapped a few more keys in furious succession, then grinned and nearly skipped around the edge of the desk. "Got what I need, and got a virus getting me what I want, we just need to stall a bit longer."
She waded past Grue and the hostages, and took position near one of the large front windows to look at the developing situation outside. The Wards were still in the semi-circle they'd been in before, but Vista's attention looked strained and Aegis had his head turned to the side, just barely-visible movements of his jaw indicating he was speaking.
"Vista's using her power to let the Wards talk to the bird girl without moving closer-- means she's not paying as much attention to the bank, but as soon as we try to move through her space she'll know. Can't read lips from here, but…" The armored figure on the giant bird shook its head, the motion exaggerated by the shape of her helmet. "...looks like she's not here to help the Wards. But she's not here to help us, either. Has she said anything like--"
At some unseen signal, the armored figure nodded, then blew a loud whistle that cut through the stone walls of the bank and silenced Tattletale's observations. She lifted a gauntlet-clad hand and called out, "Today's laws! Forbidden: Flight! Recommended: Blasters!"
"Oh hell. Someone else just got here-- on the roof. She was waiting for all combatants to arrive. I gotta get my flash drive, quick!"
"Tattletale!"
The armored figure nodded again, and brought down her hand in a sharp motion. "ENGAGE!"
Grue cursed, but instead of the Wards moving forward to trap them all inside, the armored girl blew her whistle again and raised a hand. "Infraction! Yellow card!"
"Shut up, I don't care about your--"
"Infraction! Red card!"
"Hey, wha-- aaahhhhh!"
"Holy shit," Regent started wheezing, and craned his head at the window to get a better look. "I think she just arrested Glory Girl!"
- Location
- Existance
Oh god, this just keeps getting better.
Also, really want to hear her have to explain that her power is basically forcing her to do this.
Also, really want to hear her have to explain that her power is basically forcing her to do this.
"Well, if you want to be more technical, it's about.... ugh, 7 dinar and a dirham."
"...."
"...How about doubloon, then?"
- Location
- Madrid
Now we just need for her to appear in a battle between Capes and Endbringers and go: "Today's Laws! Forbidden: Death! Recommended: Mind Control!" and start givings BPs every second to Eidolon for great Mind Control!
- Location
- Existance
I get what you're trying here, but it's a little redundant to punish people after they're already dead.
There also seems to be a factor of realism to things. She's legitimately thinking in terms of justice, as far as she's concerned, and her choices seem to be ways to right wrongs people are doing, sort of, such as banning guns (because, of course), and banning flying (because Glory Girl is technically interfering with law enforcement by showing up and rushing in).
So I don't actually think Taylor could ban someone for being at risk of death, and scoop them up automatically to save people from Leviathan. It seems counter to her mindset.
UnwelcomeStorm
BARK! BARK! BARK!
- Location
- United States
If you've played FFTA, though, you'll know that the daily laws are actually really random and arbitrary. Judges seem to take a weird stance where they're simultaneously Lawful Neutral and Chaotic Neutral.
Taylor here has at least some control over the Book of Law, it seems, given how she added an Advanced Law to the book and locked it in as active (Forbidden: Hostile Actions to Judge). Never really decided on how far her influence stems, but I suspect she can either re-shuffle the laws available for the day or pick from a randomized list; it'd be canon-levels of coincidence to have Forbidden:Guns/Recommended:Beastmasters in the Undersiders v. ABB fight by chance.
- Location
- Madrid
No, no, no. You see, I'm actually going for half-hilarious half-wtf moments. When someone dies, they clearly die. However, because they are forbidden from dying, they need to be brought back alive to take their punishment and their yellow and red card. So, everybody will be like WTF is going one. We can die twice, but after we can't come back again?
Look at it from the other point of view once a Thinker realises that Forbidden
eath! doesn't apply only to the capes, but also to Leviathan. That's why it's half WTF half HILARIOUS.It's obviously not meant to be taking seriously. As you said, she actually seems to work in terms of justice, which would make what I said probably invalid. Of course, she can go Forbidden: Hydrokinesis! and start spamming yellow cards and red cards to Leviathan.
- Location
- Existance
Uh, no, actually. Not at all...
...so thanks for the information!
NexysDhyArchen
Throne Breaker
Thing is , in FFTA, the Judges could also enact Laws outside of the action bans or game mechanisms at will. It was a bit of a plot point that it got abused in the hidden mission arcs for the post game. The main story also focused a bit on how the ruling faction gaming that was mucking up how the Judges could do their job, like, at all and is probably why Taylor's power doesn't want her to deal with 'higher authority'.
That said, a Judge at an Endbringer fight would be a literal godsend, assuming both that she doesn't get ganked and that she could keep up with the kills. Being able to flat out stop Endbringer casualties alone would make Taylor as needed as Dragon.
That said, a Judge at an Endbringer fight would be a literal godsend, assuming both that she doesn't get ganked and that she could keep up with the kills. Being able to flat out stop Endbringer casualties alone would make Taylor as needed as Dragon.
- Location
- Existance
Assuming she could actually do anything, of course.
Bedlam
Hickam's Dictum
- Location
- East Coast
I'd read it just for the amount of people she'd end up amassing in her pocket dimension jail. She's better than the Birdcage!
Nihilo
Authorial parasite
- Location
- Catalonia
Well, in FFTA2 the main function of the Judge is preventing death (making it so they are K.O'd instead and able to be brought back to the fight with a Phoenix Feather) of registered clan members, so there's that.
If we translate "registered clan members" to "registered heroes, villains and rogues", it'd work since most if not all capes sans the really new ones (which aren't known and probably won't show up to an Endbringer fight) are already registered in the system in one way or another, even if they are independent.
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- Location
- Existance
I'm not sure she can keep them for too long:
Part of this sounds like she's got a time limit on how long she can hold onto people for, but it could also just be her worrying about whether or not she's breaking the law by holding onto them for too long.
In the second case, I presume she could be given the legal authority to hold people in suspension for a duration of time, but I don't know if anyone would go for that. The Birdcage is an institution no one can escape form, while Taylor is a single person who could, if she felt like it, release dangerous capes at will, and you can't stop her without being imprisoned yourself.
UnwelcomeStorm
BARK! BARK! BARK!
- Location
- United States
My thought here was that she has about a 72-hour window before she has to actually commit to carrying out a prisoner's sentence, be that a fine, term of imprisonment, etc. I was also thinking that, if she received a warrant from a recognized legal authority for a prisoner she already has, the Book of Law could add that to itself and adjust the required punishment. No trial necessary, so she's already more arbitrary than the 'Cage.
Other thoughts on this crossover:
There's a Recommended law for a reason, and obeying it gets you prizes. Ingame I think this translated to an in-battle resource you could use to summon your summons, but as that's not really the case in Worm I was thinking that acting in accordance with a Recommended law would get you healed. Not by a whole lot, but enough to be noticeable. Encourages combatants to be tactical in their fight to take advantage of this. Hence why the Undersiders thought Taylor might have been helping them, as Recommended:Beastmasters affected Bitch and her dogs. Gallant would have noticed this as well after the Bank, as he's technically a Blaster.
Red cards mean go to jail, do not pass go. But Yellow cards are also a thing, and they carry punishments if you don't manage to go to jail: things like automatic fines, losing items and equipment, forfeiting the experience for that battle, and so on. Not entirely sure how to translate that for this crossover.
What you forgot to mention is that not only are Yellow Cards just like in soccer (two Yellows equals one Red), they also persisted from battle to battle. I think the only way to remove a YC from a character was for them to voluntarily spend a month or so in jail; which was really annoying when Marche was the one that got carded, as you couldn't do anything during that period (but also rather important to do, as Marche getting a red card meant instant game over).
Also, something really fun: some bosses in FFTA had a special status applied to them, which meant they could never get a Red Card. And don't get me started on the bundles of joy that were the Jagds; I hated fighting in those places...
"MY LOOT!"
"MY WALLET!"
"MY UNDERWEAR!"
"KYAAA!! DON'T LOOK!!!"
This one rather tricky, but it could be like:
"What do you mean you can't heal him?! Is this some kind of-"
"No. Yellow card."
"○♡○}\¡♡÷_-^@€#8○♤2}○♤♤#^/@/@^£@"
Bedlam
Hickam's Dictum
- Location
- East Coast
Hmm to expand on merits of doing what the Judge recommends: would it be too powerful of a reward if it added a restful or therapeutic effect on people? Not mindwhammy them or anything, but make it so that negative mental influences are either muted or lessened for a short while after.
- Location
- Norway
Well, they could obviously lose items on their person or in their apartment, up to and including clothing or personal items of great value... fines could result in their wallets being emptied of cash, or cash SOMEHOW disappearing from their bank accounts. The "loss of experience" is not as easy to transplant into Worm I think, so how about instead it'd maybe make a character's power weaker for a limited period of time? Would be a huge reason for the capes to start playing by the Judge's rules, since capes rely so heavily on their powers. Items and cash might be more easily ignored by some parahumans, the diminishing of their powers not so much.
Like, if Bitch got penalized, maybe she wouldn't be able to make her dogs grow to minivan-sized monstrosities, and instead they'd be the size of motorbikes instead. Or if Panacea or Tattletale got penalized, their powers would suddenly end up lessening in intensity, like Panacea suddenly only being able to cure fleshwounds and minor scrapes for a time, or Tattletale occasionally getting more useless info or the equivalent of a magic 8-ball answer half of the time.
Tattletale: "Time's short, gotta get through this door! Alright, time to use my bullshit Sherlock Holmes power on this passed-out guard to guess the code to the door's keypad..."
TT's Power: "Outlook not so great. My sources say no. Reply hazy, try again. Eleven sounds good, maybe try eleven? And then maybe twelve! How about 1337, or 1234?"
Tattletale: "...Goddamnit, Judge..."
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- Location
- Existance
I don't know about that.
Eidolon could use that sort of assistance, though I doubt anyone would really appreciate the 'bonus' Taylor was giving!
It also encourages people to do what Taylor recommends, and to not attack her on sight or otherwise work against her because there's always the hope she might help them, whether directly or not.
Random ideas:
Temporary lowering of ability functions or outright negation.
Some sort of 'bad luck' or impaired cognitive functions for a time.
Yellow card for one side of a fight equals benefits to the other side.
Enough yellow cards for one side of a fight equals release of imprisoned person for the other side.
Yellow card in past makes future recommendations that would help you less likely in the future.
Taylor reveals something about your plans/actions/powers to the other side (would that even be possible?).
I'm not sure how, but I think you've messed up your quote there since it lists me instead of UnwelcomeStorm. It still links to the right post, though.
Silly forum.
- Location
- Norway
If Taylor's powers are still Shard-based, I'd say "definitely".
Shards are perfectly capable of using precognition to pick their hosts, and some Shards are also exceptional when it comes to precognitive functions (Like Coil's "twin reality" power, Dinah's percent-based guessing and Contessa's Path to Victory, to name a few). A shard using precognitive powers to simulate a single person's plans and most likely actions in the near-future, and then relaying that information to or through its host would probably not even be that difficult.
Plus, think of all the conflict it'd generate when all those plans and whatnot are revealed!
