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

[HavocOrder0999]

@King crimson so my thoughts on the Gemworld interlude, and then some questions. Had most of it saved last night as a draft and finished it up today.

First off its a really good piece, you've honestly got me interested in this world and what we can do with it. I like the backstory for the world, a world f-ed up by a malicious entity for the lols, 13 warriors and artifacts destined to bring about peace, and their descendants screw it all up (well one does).

On Obscuras/Dark Opal:
When he was Obscuras, I could understand why he had some reason to be angry, but I'm wondering what came first, his anger or his "mistreatments". His parents passed him up for his younger brother Laban but I have to wonder if they saw something "bad" in him, that made their second born bookworm a better pick as heir. Even Graciel thought he was charming, but always angry. So maybe Obscuras parents were worried that anger would bleed onto how he managed the people, and felt Laban at least wouldn't execute you if you messed up. So yeah Obscuras had tunnel vision and obsessed over how things weren't going his way, while the nobles were laughing about him not being heir, and the girl he had a crush on picked his bully over him, I totally get all that. And then he ran away for those 20 years and plotted.

Now Dark Opal is interesting, I liked that he gave a warriors end to the guards that fought him rather than just blasting them like the cowards that ran. His fight with Bariel must have been cathartic, finally killing the guy that was a bully to you all your life and took the girl you had a crush on. But then he went from collected to total crazy with his words and thoughts towards Graciel. Like the second he saw her, his diplomacy, and sanity went to 1 (or zero). His obsession blew up on him, literally. This is all still good, shows that he clearly crossed the line into evil and is in his own head trying to rationalize his actions and still wants to get things to go his way. I wonder if this is a negative trait he has.

On Bariel:
He was a jerk when he was younger, became a decent man when he was older, but never reconciled with the person he tormented, and that came to bite him in the ass. I've known people who were dicks when they were little and became decent once they matured enough to control their impulses, I think we've all seen that. What doomed him was that he picked on a spiteful person that would do everything in his power to get the final laugh. Even making a pact with the dark forces it seems.

On Graciel:
She made the rational choice, both Obscuras and Bariel had flaws, but she saw proof that Bariel was willing to improve himself. Maybe in could be argued that Obscuras never had that chance, but he also didn't do himself any favors choosing to run away and brood rather than being mature about it and moving on. Her final actions were saving her child and blasting Dark Opal, she didn't give up, gotta respect that.

On Laban/White Opal:
Got to wonder if he's still alive first off. He didn't do anything wrong here, he saved Bariel and had enough power to defeat the monster he couldn't. He seems to be humble about being so magically strong. He became an advisor to Bariel later on and was concened about what his brother was up to. Seems like growing up they would have had a very strained relationship. He must have been an introverted bookworm, I can relate.


Thoughts on what to do about all this (aka how can we profit)
Lots of picks here: magic, artifacts, land, all could help Lex out. We have no hard numbers on how our weapons and tech would fare against Gemworld's magic and monsters however. Still worth observing what happens since we have the foster father to Princess Amethyst employed as Jinx's tutor (if that is how it played out in the quest), and boy how is that gonna go down if Amethyst and Jinx interact. Conversely it could make Amethyst's location the potential ground zero for an invasion by Dark Opal's forces, if he figures out a way to cross worlds. I think many characters in the DC world would laugh off Gemworld's existence but Lex at this point would say "Tell me more". Pretty sure US law stops at earth, so Gemworld gives us some unique opportunities, and King crimson did not state an Emerald being given out, so maybe free title up for creation/grabs If only we had a lot of green rocks to prove its our theme


@King crimson so these are some questions I have in regards to how it affects the quest:
1. Are you doing rolls for Dark Opal actually conquering Gemworld or getting pushback/facing uprisings.
2. When did the ending of the interlude occur in the timeline of our quest? Like how old is Princess Amethyst now?
3. Is Dark Opal going to just wait for Amethyst to show up or would he try to find her? Does he see her as his nemesis or just a target to kill (he referred to her as mongrel, he definitely despises her as she is living proof of Bariel and Graciel's union)

I did not know about DC Gemworld until this quest and now I find myself interested in what you're going to do with this setting, and what we can do to ruthlessly exploit benefit enrich explore and learn about this world and maybe grow Lexcorp as a result. Perhaps restore a rightful ruler to her throne? Remove a tyrant? Uplift a civilization with modern technology? Become the new ruler and Bring order to these chaotic lands?

 

[Simon_Jester]

I want to increase his Learning, but probably when he needs to research the Cryo bombs or some other ice-related weaponry.

Click to shrink...

Might as well do it here and now.

I will note that if you want to be sneaky you can put the Learning increase on a character Snart is likely to collaborate with on his cryogenics research (ironically, Rory would be a good choice because of superb co-op score). Upgrading the subordinate in these cases is likely to pay off more than upgrading the primary, because the subordinate gets a multiplier effect. This is more complicated for characters who may lead or be led in a collaboration because of their stat line, such as Mercy (ideal to collaborate with Lex on Martial or Intrigue, but ideal to lead other possible collaborations).

Weapons that are hidden within the exosuit and thus are not visible at first glance (right now it's mostly fold-out stuff). Improving hidden weapons can lead to some interesting things for you down the line though.

Click to shrink...

Hmm. Like... I don't know... morphing weapons, maybe? Would that be a plausible result from a high roll?

On the other hand things like the human plant integration serum or the bone formula are concentrated to far fewer individuals bothering to make them so as such they become more valuable to keep to yourself. I imagine once you get technology that is very, very hard to replicate the thread'll hoard that stuff rather than sell it.

Click to shrink...

The big exception to that is, of course, kryptonite, because we'll want that to proliferate in hopes of directly or indirectly screwing over Superman.

@King crimson

A question about Nemesis mechanics, if you don't mind. As I understand it, the basic mechanic of Nemesis actions is that there is, like, a 'stat' that tracks "So how much have you screwing over Superman lately?" We will need to, on a semi-regular basis, take Nemesis actions to screw over Superman to keep filling this stat gauge, as I understand it.

My question is, what if something we do as a normal, non-Nemesis action has the effect of screwing over Superman?

For example, if Superman gets knocked into a kryptonite-powered car we built, and it obviously makes him very sick, and suddenly everybody's speculating on whether he has a secret weakness and he looks bad or something, well... Lex didn't plan that but it's still in a real sense at least partly his doing. Would this have any effect on the "how much have you screwed over Superman lately" counter?

Of particular note to me is that I've heard nobody talk at all about what will happen if/when Carol gets a Star Sapphire Ring. Atrocitus has straight up given a prophecy that hints at that and I'm curious what people's thoughts are on dealing with that scenario especially since it has been virtually not discussed at all. I think that how people end up approaching that will tell you a lot about what they are and aren't willing to sell or keep secret.

Click to shrink...

I think the big reason it hasn't been discussed much is because it's hard to plan for. She might flit off into intergalactic space to become a full-time Star Sapphire. She might stay here on Earth and become a kind of crazy Hal Jordan-obsessed supervillainess to the extent of ditching her career. She might keep her career and only occasionally become a Hal-Jordan obsessed supervillainess and/or superheroine. She might reveal to Lex that she has this ring. She might not.

Since we sort of keep Ms. Ferris at arm's length and she is implied to be managing distant branches of the company and only occasionally present in Metropolis, it's very hard to predict what will happen. We have to be prepared to lose Ms. Ferris' services at some point because she might leave with or without telling us where she's gone. On the other hand, we might metaphorically roll the dice and get lucky and have a power ring user on our side who can inform us of doings in the larger cosmos.

OK but when has this ever happened? I can't remember it ever happening.

Most we ever got was when our allies wanted/needed our help to decipher something. They've never just offered us stuff and never in response to sharing tech.

Click to shrink...

The League of Shadows helped us largely for free- but when they wanted technical support, they asked us. And we helped them.

DOMA has provided us with some useful information and leads, and would probably have helped us more if we'd, y'know, interacted with them more. DOMA attacked a supervillain who was stalking one of our best hero units and ripped him to literal shreds, then gave us the pieces in case we were curious about his unusual biology. DOMA gives us, in effect, a license to practice magic without getting in trouble- if they considered us a rogue magic-user they'd be actively fucking with us. DOMA has given us the opportunity to influence the next generation of metahumans by building the equivalent of Xavier's Academy.

Count Vertigo is giving us a place to hide cool shit and an extremely easy place to build a new headquarters building (+1 AP/turn).

Also of note, we're supposed to sell them the second rate stuff that we can easily defeat and have contingencies on.

Click to shrink...

It will not be difficult for us to develop a better exosuit than the one the government uses. But first we need to know what the government has, to know whether our tech is better than what they get elsewhere. The only ways for us to know that are if we help them develop their own tech (which is a reason to consult on the S.T.R.I.P.E. Project), or if we're selling them OUR own tech whose weaknesses we already know.

Iron Man cannot possibly be sure that his power armor will remain the best in the world, if he stays at home hoarding his power armor designs and doesn't pay attention or involve himself with what anyone else is doing.

Mostly for the reason you stated. You know what stops the gov't from taking your assets? Overwhelming martial might. But giving them that same martial might now evens the field again.

Click to shrink...

The problem is that amassing enough firepower to defeat the entire US military AND all the superheroes who will rally to the cause when "Oh no, Lex Luthor has turned evil and is attacking Washington, D.C. like his great-granddaddy blatantly planned to!" (sorry, haven't written that chapter yet)... That is... prohibitively difficult. It's like, Superman is going to be living right on top of us, Wonder Woman lives right on top of us near DC. Overwhelming martial might is not a realistic option for us in the short term, and the tech we've got NOW is irrelevant to such might.

We could knock over some third world country with what we've got, sure. But we're not knocking over the US government. They're more useful on our side than as a target we try to keep at bay by waving guns in their direction. Because the US government does not like having a gun pointed in its face and being told to go away.

On Obscuras/Dark Opal:
When he was Obscuras, I could understand why he had some reason to be angry, but I'm wondering what came first, his anger or his "mistreatments".

Click to shrink...

Probably a chicken and egg thing. A person who's inherently bitter and angry tends to turn people off and antagonize them, which in turn gives them reason to shun him and deny him favors. If he is a bitter, angry person and lacks self-awareness, he will attribute this to other people cheating him out of what he deserves, which makes him even more bitter and angry, creating a vicious cycle.

Now Dark Opal is interesting, I liked that he gave a warriors end to the guards that fought him rather than just blasting them like the cowards that ran.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, I suspect that his magic may require enough swooshing gestures and whatnot for it to be a bit hazardous to use it while a guy with a big pointy metal object is trying to embed it in your pancreas at close range. We saw this in the fight with Bariel; all Bariel had was big muscles (arguably somewhat superhuman strength given what he was doing with those rock fragments) and a hammer, and he was still holding his own for a while.

Thoughts on what to do about all this (aka how can we profit)
Lots of picks here: magic, artifacts, land, all could help Lex out. We have no hard numbers on how our weapons and tech would fare against Gemworld's magic and monsters however. Still worth observing what happens since we have the foster father to Princess Amethyst employed as Jinx's tutor (if that is how it played out in the quest), and boy how is that gonna go down if Amethyst and Jinx interact.

Click to shrink...

Potential for Amethyst+Jinx+Cass magical girl teamup adventures was definitely on people's minds when they did that vote, though Amethyst's foster father was a pretty good candidate anyway as I recall. He'd have lost to Gangbuster on his own merits without royal connections ( ), but maybe we can find something positive for Gangbuster to do later on.

Conversely it could make Amethyst's location the potential ground zero for an invasion by Dark Opal's forces, if he figures out a way to cross worlds. I think many characters in the DC world would laugh off Gemworld's existence but Lex at this point would say "Tell me more". Pretty sure US law stops at earth, so Gemworld gives us some unique opportunities, and King crimson did not state an Emerald being given out, so maybe free title up for creation/grabs If only we had a lot of green rocks to prove its our theme

Click to shrink...

Now, the flip side of this is that Gemworld is plugged into conflict between the Lords of Order and Chaos, who are powerful and not something we should casually mess with- but we can probably dabble there more safely than we can in Azarath, because the Lords of Order and Chaos tend to stalemate each other, whereas Trigon is just Trigon.

2. When did the ending of the interlude occur in the timeline of our quest? Like how old is Princess Amethyst now?
3. Is Dark Opal going to just wait for Amethyst to show up or would he try to find her? Does he see her as his nemesis or just a target to kill (he referred to her as mongrel, he definitely despises her as she is living proof of Bariel and Graciel's union)

Click to shrink...

Hm. (2) seems like something we might actually know IC; (3) is not... [thinks]

 

[jonasquinn]

Do we actually know what the DC for building a tower in Vlatava is? I can't see it in the info list

Also is anyone else interested in buying the Earthmover 1 Drill sometime soon? It would probably make it easier for us get more Kryptonite and hopefully Quixium, assuming we can find a deposit of it, for when we eventually need it

Though I suppose when we eventually buy out STAR Labs we'll hopefully get the stockpile that they bought

 

[Simon_Jester]

Do we actually know what the DC for building a tower in Vlatava is? I can't see it in the info list

Click to shrink...

Twelve, the last time I checked.

There's a whole informational post on the DC for building towers in various cities around the world.

Also is anyone else interested in buying the Earthmover 1 Drill sometime soon? It would probably make it easier for us get more Kryptonite and hopefully Quixium, assuming we can find a deposit of it, for when we eventually need it

Click to shrink...

Good idea, I've been tempted for a while.

Though I suppose when we eventually buy out STAR Labs we'll hopefully get the stockpile that they bought

Click to shrink...

I've been considering it as a Stewardship action for some time. I'd want it to be a Lex-led collaboration because I want it to be boomingly successful and the DC is... nontrivial.

 

[jonasquinn]

Twelve, the last time I checked.

There's a whole informational post on the DC for building towers in various cities around the world.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I checked it but I couldn't see Vlatava but I could just be being an idiot

Good idea, I've been tempted for a while.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, annoyingly it's one of those middle actions that's got a decent chance of failing if we don't assign a hero to it but not necessarily useful enough or has a high enough DC to easily justify assigning a hero

Hopefully next turn we'll have a couple of new heroes in whatever executive we hire and Saied if that goes well

I also want to fund Barbara Minerva's expedition and hopefully Saied would be able to do that as a fellow archeologist

I've been considering it as a Stewardship action for some time. I'd want it to be a Lex-led collaboration because I want it to be boomingly successful and the DC is... nontrivial.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'd be totally up for doing it Turn 22 since I want to have Lex head up contacting Azarath next turn

 

[Dean]

Spoiler: Not my best work

Messed up in a specific area, but I still like it.
@King crimson don't suppose Jinx and Natasha can make up?

 

[Black King]

I mean, Eiling gave us the data for the Atom Project and the only reason we can work on S.T.R.I.P.E is because the government likes us so much not to mention our alliance with Eiling is the only reason we gained anything from Santa Prisca

Click to shrink...

Eiling wanted us to consult/help him with those projects though. Which is what I mentioned.

The League of Shadows helped us largely for free- but when they wanted technical support, they asked us. And we helped them.

DOMA has provided us with some useful information and leads, and would probably have helped us more if we'd, y'know, interacted with them more. DOMA attacked a supervillain who was stalking one of our best hero units and ripped him to literal shreds, then gave us the pieces in case we were curious about his unusual biology. DOMA gives us, in effect, a license to practice magic without getting in trouble- if they considered us a rogue magic-user they'd be actively fucking with us. DOMA has given us the opportunity to influence the next generation of metahumans by building the equivalent of Xavier's Academy.

Count Vertigo is giving us a place to hide cool shit and an extremely easy place to build a new headquarters building (+1 AP/turn).

Click to shrink...

The League tried to kill us and we survived and killed their men and then found out who was behind it all...that was a very different situation and had nothing to do with any tech giving.

DOMA did all of that on their own initiative. It had nothing to do with us. And I don't remember them helping us much yet.

Count...we haven't gotten much from him yet, nor has there been much of a tech exchange.

It will not be difficult for us to develop a better exosuit than the one the government uses. But first we need to know what the government has, to know whether our tech is better than what they get elsewhere. The only ways for us to know that are if we help them develop their own tech (which is a reason to consult on the S.T.R.I.P.E. Project), or if we're selling them OUR own tech whose weaknesses we already know.

Iron Man cannot possibly be sure that his power armor will remain the best in the world, if he stays at home hoarding his power armor designs and doesn't pay attention or involve himself with what anyone else is doing.

Click to shrink...

I mean...we know they don't have one. Giving them our own is not smart no matter how much you try to spin it. We gave them a headstart. Which is bad for us.

And...Iron Man DOES hoard his power armor.

The problem is that amassing enough firepower to defeat the entire US military AND all the superheroes who will rally to the cause when "Oh no, Lex Luthor has turned evil and is attacking Washington, D.C. like his great-granddaddy blatantly planned to!" (sorry, haven't written that chapter yet)... That is... prohibitively difficult. It's like, Superman is going to be living right on top of us, Wonder Woman lives right on top of us near DC. Overwhelming martial might is not a realistic option for us in the short term, and the tech we've got NOW is irrelevant to such might.

We could knock over some third world country with what we've got, sure. But we're not knocking over the US government. They're more useful on our side than as a target we try to keep at bay by waving guns in their direction. Because the US government does not like having a gun pointed in its face and being told to go away.

Click to shrink...

I mean...no? We already arguably have enough to do that and no one has called us evil. Having the power isn't the issue. It's how you present it and use it.

And remember that I wanted to HIDE our power like our exosuits and such. For a similar reason.

 

[King crimson]

Spoiler: Is that a Jojo refere-

@King crimson Cassandra's stand gunshot allows her to shoot people

Click to shrink...

Personally if we're going with stands created for these characters I personally would have gone with Night of Knives for Cassandra. Other possible fake stands include Curse of Baba Yaga for Rebecca, Cities in Dust for General Zod, Mountain King's Call (based off of In the Hall of the Mountain King) for Carl, and Helter Skelter for the Joker. I put way too much thought into this but I like seeing these crossovers. This piece earns 400 exp.

First off its a really good piece, you've honestly got me interested in this world and what we can do with it. I like the backstory for the world, a world f-ed up by a malicious entity for the lols, 13 warriors and artifacts destined to bring about peace, and their descendants screw it all up (well one does).

Click to shrink...

Thank you I'm really glad to hear that. I've always had a soft spot for Gemworld ever since I saw the old DC nation shorts for it (it's an isekai before isekai's got big which was interesting to see). Since then I've caught up on the history of Gemworld and read the original comics and while it doesn't jive with much else in the universe it's a really fun setting. Honestly it's a million times better than the closest other equivalent (Skartaris) and it allows for you to tell stories not normally found in the DC Universe (Swords and Sorcery and Magical Girl Stuff). The backstory was me taking my favorite elements from the original run (I'm not a fan of most of the New 52 stuff although I like characters having actual names) and expanding on them. The whole "world f-ed up by a malicious entity for the lols" thing is actually an adaptation of the original territory in which Gemworld originally belonged to the Lords of Chaos before they lost it and they try to get it back after Dark Opal leaves the door open for them. Laban AKA White Opal was also introduced only after the death of Dark Opal in the run and he was one of my favorite parts of the series so his role got expanded. I'm sorry if I'm ranting but I'm happy to see that something I really enjoyed and put a good amount of effort into trying to world-build well ended up getting you excited and interested.

On Obscuras/Dark Opal:
When he was Obscuras, I could understand why he had some reason to be angry, but I'm wondering what came first, his anger or his "mistreatments". His parents passed him up for his younger brother Laban but I have to wonder if they saw something "bad" in him, that made their second born bookworm a better pick as heir.

Click to shrink...

So I'll probably go into a little more detail on this with a later piece of the story but there is some things I'm willing to say. The first thing was already mentioned but I feel its worth reiterating and that is that it is unclear whether his anger or his "mistreatments" came first. One fed into the other and it's unclear what started when. The second bit is where Dark Opal's back story gets a little more convoluted but Laban was born better at magic than Obscuras. This lead to Obscuras feeling inadequate as a child and lashing out at others out of anger and jealousy. This lead to his parents passing him up for his brother since Laban was both more stable and more powerful magically which only fueled his anger and resentment more. Obscuras would 110% tell you that his mistreatment occurred first but its more complicated than that. Is it parental mistreatment to focus more attention and praise on your child who is far more skilled and also doesn't act out? I think the question ultimately matters on your perspective and in universe characters would not agree on the subject (Laban and Obscuras would have different answers on what came first for example despite both being there to witness things at the same time). Ultimately you're going to have to draw your own conclusions.

I wonder if this is a negative trait he has.

Click to shrink...

In terms of character flaws yes. Dark Opal tunnel visions and gets utterly irrational once he encounters things that he thinks should be a certain way and will actively engage in doublethink in order to keep his worldview intact. As for it being a mechanical trait I won't reveal that.

She made the rational choice, both Obscuras and Bariel had flaws, but she saw proof that Bariel was willing to improve himself. Maybe in could be argued that Obscuras never had that chance, but he also didn't do himself any favors choosing to run away and brood rather than being mature about it and moving on. Her final actions were saving her child and blasting Dark Opal, she didn't give up, gotta respect that.

Click to shrink...

I'm glad this got conveyed. Considering how little screen-time Graciel got in the piece I was worried about misrepresenting the character I wanted her to have but this lets me know that I managed it. You pretty much have stated word for word what I was going for with her character and that makes me happy.

Got to wonder if he's still alive first off. He didn't do anything wrong here, he saved Bariel and had enough power to defeat the monster he couldn't. He seems to be humble about being so magically strong. He became an advisor to Bariel later on and was concened about what his brother was up to. Seems like growing up they would have had a very strained relationship. He must have been an introverted bookworm, I can relate.

Click to shrink...

This is another character who I'm really happy to see my intentions for him worked out. White Opal was my favorite character in the original Gemworld comics believe it or not and his relationship with his brothers children and the way he accepted them and tried to guide them always was a highlight for me.

I won't reveal what happened to him in quest but I will say it's different from what happened in the comics.

King crimson did not state an Emerald being given out

Click to shrink...

This was intentional and ties into another mystery/twist but I honestly thought no one would pick up on it considering the fact that I listed thirteen stones and jade was one of them which traditionally has no real Gemworld counterpart. Your plan is somewhat viable but for reasons more complicated than you might think at first.

@King crimson so these are some questions I have in regards to how it affects the quest:
1. Are you doing rolls for Dark Opal actually conquering Gemworld or getting pushback/facing uprisings.
2. When did the ending of the interlude occur in the timeline of our quest? Like how old is Princess Amethyst now?
3. Is Dark Opal going to just wait for Amethyst to show up or would he try to find her? Does he see her as his nemesis or just a target to kill (he referred to her as mongrel, he definitely despises her as she is living proof of Bariel and Graciel's union)

Click to shrink...

I'm doing rolls for Dark Opal and his allies suppressing possible insurrections and wiping out the last remnants of rebel forces He has also been searching for the remaining artifacts and I roll for that although he had 2 of 13 guaranteed by turn 2. He conquered Gemworld before turn 1 so that was also set in stone.

I'm not looking at my notes but Amy Winston is about the same age as Jinx, so around 14 or so right now I believe.

Dark Opal is currently trying to collect all of the artifacts still in Gemworld before attempting anything outside of that realm. If Amethyst shows up he is going to do his level best to kill her while not compromising his goals but if she doesn't show up he'll save her for last. Dark Opal does not see her as his nemesis currently but being thwarted from killing her once has counted towards her nemesis score for him. If she foils him to more times they will become nemeses. Of course the moment Dark Opal has all of the other artifacts he is going to try and get the last one from earth and I won't reveal when that is happening until it happens.

Yeah I checked it but I couldn't see Vlatava but I could just be being an idiot

Click to shrink...

Terenverti is the capital city of Vlatava.

Spoiler: Not my best work

Messed up in a specific area, but I still like it.
@King crimson don't suppose Jinx and Natasha can make up?

Click to shrink...

This might not be your best work but it is by no means bad. Yes there are some small discrepancies like the size of Mick's head but for the most part the image works solidly and it is kind of wholesome. You did choose to give Mick a lot more hair than he is normally drawn with but it's not a bad look and nothing I've written contradicts this.

This piece earns 400 exp and was a nice thing to cap off my passover meal.

To answer your question they can probably make up later but right now as kind of immature kids who don't know how to deal with others all that well it's not likely. It requires either Jinx or Natasha to mature a lot or both of them to mature a little and that's something that'll take a bit of time.

 

[jonasquinn]

Eiling wanted us to consult/help him with those projects though. Which is what I mentioned.

Click to shrink...

Yes but they're still top secret, highly important government projects that we get to learn about, participate in and learn from

Keep in mind that S.T.R.I.P.E is being designed from reverse engineering Ignition's armour, which is already better than anything we have, so working on it lets us get at look at it

The League tried to kill us and we survived and killed their men and then found out who was behind it all...that was a very different situation and had nothing to do with any tech giving.

Click to shrink...

I think he's referring to the alliance against Intergang

DOMA did all of that on their own initiative. It had nothing to do with us. And I don't remember them helping us much yet.

Click to shrink...

They haven't done much yet but they've literally just been founded and having the government agency who's job it is to regulate and monitor Metahumans on your side is never a bad thing

Count...we haven't gotten much from him yet, nor has there been much of a tech exchange.

Click to shrink...


Our alliance was just formalised the turn before last and he's given us ready access to his entire country, is working with us to study Metahuman powers and is going to give us the Quixum data soon

I mean...we know they don't have one. Giving them our own is not smart no matter how much you try to spin it. We gave them a headstart. Which is bad for us.

Click to shrink...

They don't have any right this second but they're only a few turns away from finishing S.T.R.I.P.E by themselves which would give them power armour just as good as ours if not better

It's infinitely better for us to be aware of the inner workings of S.T.R.I.P.E so that we can implement it into our own suits than just be left completely out of the loop

You also have to consider that a big way that we can deal with Superman is by reducing the gap between him and normal people, if exosuits become so commonplace that even the police have them and can deal with most criminals without Superman he gets far less support

I mean...no? We already arguably have enough to do that and no one has called us evil. Having the power isn't the issue. It's how you present it and use it.

And remember that I wanted to HIDE our power like our exosuits and such. For a similar reason.

Click to shrink...

Yes but if we hide it and get found out then people would get mad and concerned and start acting against us

This way we're a trusted part of the inner workings of the US Government

 

[Simon_Jester]

This was intentional and ties into another mystery/twist but I honestly thought no one would pick up on it considering the fact that I listed thirteen stones and jade was one of them which traditionally has no real Gemworld counterpart. Your plan is somewhat viable but for reasons more complicated than you might think at first.

I'm doing rolls for Dark Opal and his allies suppressing possible insurrections and wiping out the last remnants of rebel forces He has also been searching for the remaining artifacts and I roll for that although he had 2 of 13 guaranteed by turn 2. He conquered Gemworld before turn 1 so that was also set in stone.

I'm not looking at my notes but Amy Winston is about the same age as Jinx, so around 14 or so right now I believe.

Dark Opal is currently trying to collect all of the artifacts still in Gemworld before attempting anything outside of that realm. If Amethyst shows up he is going to do his level best to kill her while not compromising his goals but if she doesn't show up he'll save her for last. Dark Opal does not see her as his nemesis currently but being thwarted from killing her once has counted towards her nemesis score for him. If she foils him to more times they will become nemeses. Of course the moment Dark Opal has all of the other artifacts he is going to try and get the last one from earth and I won't reveal when that is happening until it happens.

Click to shrink...

Well, having an evil sorcerer from another dimension attack the daughter of one of our employees is definitely not the kind of thing we can be having with.

[nods]

Eiling wanted us to consult/help him with those projects though. Which is what I mentioned.

Click to shrink...

He won't share data with us if he doesn't expect us to be helpful. If we're hoarding our tech, we're not being helpful, especially if people figure out we have it. And since we've already displayed some pretty fucking impressive tech... yeah.

The League tried to kill us and we survived and killed their men and then found out who was behind it all...that was a very different situation and had nothing to do with any tech giving.

Click to shrink...

We formed an alliance with them against Intergang because the Ra's al Ghul, correctly, considered Intergang to be an alien threat to humanity and the Earth. Originally we were more or less spotting targets for them and in fact they pretty well cleared Intergang out of Metropolis for us with limited risk on our part. That culminated in the Markovian affair where, while we didn't share tech with Ra's we DID share technical advice with him- namely, the nature of Whisper A'Daire's doomsday (or possibly Apokolips) device.

DOMA did all of that on their own initiative. It had nothing to do with us. And I don't remember them helping us much yet.

Click to shrink...

We haven't asked, and we haven't called in any of the goodwill and favors. Furthermore, remember that one of the biggest favors a law enforcement agency can do is to look the other way. They surely know we have at least one magician on payroll, and at least one metahuman, and are tolerating both.

Count...we haven't gotten much from him yet, nor has there been much of a tech exchange.

Click to shrink...

We've agreed to share data on superpowers. Which may not count as 'tech' to you but is pretty damn important to us.

I mean...we know they don't have one. Giving them our own is not smart no matter how much you try to spin it. We gave them a headstart. Which is bad for us.

Click to shrink...

We know the US government is working on power armor, has Ignition's armor to reverse-engineer, and has a project that only needs to accumulate five admittedly high-DC successes. And they have enough Learning heroes to make it happen.

And...Iron Man DOES hoard his power armor.

Click to shrink...

He does. And as a consequence he risks getting blindsided by the fact that other people are out there who's as skillful as he is and can make armor that matches him. And frankly, power armor tech is even more ubiquitous in this setting than in Marvel.

I mean...no? We already arguably have enough to do that and no one has called us evil.

Click to shrink...

We do not have the power to do that. I'm pretty sure Wonder Woman alone could crash through a big chunk of our armed forces, and she's backed up by armies. The U.S. military outnumbers our security forces dozens to one, and we don't have a monopoly on Martial badasses.

And remember that I wanted to HIDE our power like our exosuits and such. For a similar reason.

Click to shrink...

If we have to hide it, we can't use it. What's your endgame, build up a secret army capable of conquering all of North America and everyone who tries to stop us?

Ghost of Louis Luthor, immaculately tailored, with a pencil-thin mustache:

"I don't recommend it..."

 

[Black King]

Yes but they're still top secret, highly important government projects that we get to learn about, participate in and learn from

Keep in mind that S.T.R.I.P.E is being designed from reverse engineering Ignition's armour, which is already better than anything we have, so working on it lets us get at look at it

Click to shrink...

Only because we can help them. It's not free. And we don't actually know if Ignition's armor is way superior to our own. And giving them both isn't helping.

They don't have any right this second but they're only a few turns away from finishing S.T.R.I.P.E by themselves which would give them power armour just as good as ours if not better

It's infinitely better for us to be aware of the inner workings of S.T.R.I.P.E so that we can implement it into our own suits than just be left completely out of the loop

You also have to consider that a big way that we can deal with Superman is by reducing the gap between him and normal people, if exosuits become so commonplace that even the police have them and can deal with most criminals without Superman he gets far less support

Click to shrink...

But giving them exosuits doesn't give us S.T.R.I.P.E. data. It just...gives them exosuits. It also makes them speed up their completion of S.T.R.I.P.E.

And the issue with bringing people up to Superman's level is...the villains/bad guys get brought up too. And that's when everything dies.

Yes but if we hide it and get found out then people would get mad and concerned and start acting against us

Click to shrink...

Not really. We're a weapons company who just got attacked by a man in an exosuit. It's to be expected.

He won't share data with us if he doesn't expect us to be helpful. If we're hoarding our tech, we're not being helpful, especially if people figure out we have it. And since we've already displayed some pretty fucking impressive tech... yeah.

Click to shrink...

Which means he's essentially not giving us anything. Just allowing us to help him.

That culminated in the Markovian affair where, while we didn't share tech with Ra's we DID share technical advice with him- namely, the nature of Whisper A'Daire's doomsday (or possibly Apokolips) device.

Click to shrink...

Again, he needed us to look into it. Also it wasn't something he could use. So...allowing us to help him.

We know the US government is working on power armor, has Ignition's armor to reverse-engineer, and has a project that only needs to accumulate five admittedly high-DC successes. And they have enough Learning heroes to make it happen.

Click to shrink...

And now DC is lowered by us giving them our exosuits. Don't see how this benefits us.

He does. And as a consequence he risks getting blindsided by the fact that other people are out there who's as skillful as he is and can make armor that matches him. And frankly, power armor tech is even more ubiquitous in this setting than in Marvel.

Click to shrink...

Not really. As seen in the MCU, people actively make stuff from his tech when he gives it away. In actual Marvel, he still manages to keep tabs on people and their tech because giving your tech away has 0 advantages when it comes to knowing what the enemy has. If they were going to be on your level, they STILL will be on your level or above it. If they were never going to have power armor well...now you've gifted it to them.

We do not have the power to do that. I'm pretty sure Wonder Woman alone could crash through a big chunk of our armed forces, and she's backed up by armies. The U.S. military outnumbers our security forces dozens to one, and we don't have a monopoly on Martial badasses.

Click to shrink...

I'd say that Wonder Woman is good but we have people who can hold her off solo. With the rest of the stuff we do and the fact that mooks don't seem to hold the same power together as a bunch of individual heroes do...we could conceivably win with all of our tech and hero units.

If we have to hide it, we can't use it. What's your endgame, build up a secret army capable of conquering all of North America and everyone who tries to stop us?

Click to shrink...

Hide it until we need it? Like all good tech/smart plans? Showing your hand early is always bad.

 

[King crimson]

Vote is now closed. Update will land tomorrow.

 

[King crimson]

On an unrelated note Simon I recommend you stop doing stuff like this

Ghost of Louis Luthor, immaculately tailored, with a pencil-thin mustache:

"I don't recommend it..."

Click to shrink...

When responding to other people's arguments. I understand that it's meant to be humorous and that you aren't violating any of the listed rules but the other people don't have any context for what you are saying and so incorporating it into an argument seems a little disingenuous since there is no way for people to respond the statements you make using information they do not have because the Omakes starring these characters are not written.

As such I recommend that you cut down on the use of figures from Luthor history when forming an argument against someone else (if it's in support of someone else's statement then that's fine).

Sorry for being strict but I'm trying to head off conflict in advance.

 

[ebolasos]

Only because we can help them. It's not free. And we don't actually know if Ignition's armor is way superior to our own. And giving them both isn't helping.

Click to shrink...

Come off it you know it's way superior it allows him to stand up to superman, not defeat him sure but stand up to him for a while is easily better then anything we have right now.

But giving them exosuits doesn't give us S.T.R.I.P.E. data. It just...gives them exosuits. It also makes them speed up their completion of S.T.R.I.P.E.

And the issue with bringing people up to Superman's level is...the villains/bad guys get brought up too. And that's when everything dies.

Click to shrink...

We're not giving them exo suits if we're working with the program we will have access to the data they have, we help them better there gear we get the data on what it's capable of so we can work on making our suits better.

And now DC is lowered by us giving them our exosuits. Don't see how this benefits us.

Click to shrink...

They make better suits due to the lower dc who's to say we as a weapons manufacture can't get the contract to make them and from there use what they give us to improve our gear

Even then we could always buy some off the black market becasue it'll get there sooner then later and study it from there.

Which means he's essentially not giving us anything. Just allowing us to help him.

Click to shrink...

Do you not understand how a working relationship works? We help him as he's an ally and he helps us, he's already done so by providing opportunities, information and using his influence to help mitigate the tax laws that hit us last turn

Don't help him and he won't help us, we can't solo the world we need allies and the only way were going to keep them is to help them.

Hide it until we need it? Like all good tech/smart plans? Showing your hand early is always bad.

Click to shrink...

But why hide it when it's not even our best gear? It's not like we're shouting to the world what our trump cards are, hoarding everything won't help us at all.

 

[Simon_Jester]

On an unrelated note Simon I recommend you stop doing stuff like this

When responding to other people's arguments. I understand that it's meant to be humorous and that you aren't violating any of the listed rules but the other people don't have any context for what you are saying and so incorporating it into an argument seems a little disingenuous since there is no way for people to respond the statements you make using information they do not have because the Omakes starring these characters are not written.

As such I recommend that you cut down on the use of figures from Luthor history when forming an argument against someone else (if it's in support of someone else's statement then that's fine).

Sorry for being strict but I'm trying to head off conflict in advance.

Click to shrink...

OK sorry, it was a joke because I've had this written material in my head for months and got bogged down in the Civil War stuff so I never posted it. Sorry.

My apologies if it annoyed you, @KnowledgeKing

 

[MysteryCPU]

If we want money, rather than selling to the US military (when we are a global corporation), we should focus on the civilian technologies that will let us have a headlock on the global economy. That way, we can keep the dangerous technologies that, if we give them to another party, can be used against us within our own control. And, it keeps people from knowing what we can do, which is another part of our defense.

If you want friends with the US, we could work on projects with them that would allow us to get the technology that we wouldn't have access to (like STRIPE) or on national projects like the space program. But, we should not depend on the reliability of the United States as an ally- we are always one bad election or one bad news story from losing a lot of our support.

 

[Negation]

Personally I prefer to re-organise and expand LexCorp until we cover various industries worldwide like the Orochi Group...except with better workplace safety protocols in place.

 

[HavocOrder0999]

I would argue that hiding your best gear and avoiding tech sharing alliances is a useful strategy, but mainly in scenarios where only a small handful of factions can survive, or everyone is out to become the ruler. Neither is happening in the short term since Lexcorp is not going to rule America let alone the world, and there are other countries that will always be independent of us that we can't just force or conquer into obeying. So since we know we can't openly rule the world, and we're not going to clear the map of all other factions, the best we can do is make some alliances with people, and empower them so that they are strong enough to help keep us from being taken out.

We keep giving Eiling and DOMA so many goodies (and @King crimson I'd kind of like to know their reactions to that), that from their perspective we are the free loot boxes. You don't attack the guy that is giving you and a small handful of others free useful stuff. You help them so they are in a position to keep giving you stuff. If we go full isolationist, then they'll start to get nervous about what we're working on in secret, by helping them they give us the benefit of the doubt. Its the difference between "What the heck are they working on and is it dangerous to me?" and "I wonder what they'll show off next time."

If we help Eiling and the US make their exosuits, then as long as we don't commit treason they shouldn't see the need to use them against us, they'll send them against the guys that screw with us. We're the ones that convinced Eiling to push for war in Santa Prisca after all. We just need to keep a tight control on some high end items we have, like the Plant serum and the 3-D printer technology.

 

[King crimson]

@King crimson I'd kind of like to know their reactions to that

Click to shrink...

I'll take it under consideration. I'm not going to reveal everything since I don't think that's good game design but I'll try and let you in Eiling or Diana's head a bit more so that you've got a better idea of how they feel about you then a one sentence blurb on the other encountered character pages.

 

[Negation]

Ok guys, side question:-

If we ever do a [ ] Throw a Company Party action, should we Rent a Country and do it?

 

[King crimson]

In more unrelated news I've updated some of the fighting styles post

 

[Simon_Jester]

If we want money, rather than selling to the US military (when we are a global corporation), we should focus on the civilian technologies that will let us have a headlock on the global economy. That way, we can keep the dangerous technologies that, if we give them to another party, can be used against us within our own control. And, it keeps people from knowing what we can do, which is another part of our defense.

Click to shrink...

Given that our 'civilian' technologies include a lot of stuff that can be weaponized, I'm not sure it's that simple.

 

[Negation]

Given that our 'civilian' technologies include a lot of stuff that can be weaponized, I'm not sure it's that simple.

Click to shrink...

Teflon was developed and used in the Manhattan Project as a material to coat valves and seals in the pipes holding highly reactive uranium hexafluoride at the vast K-25 uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Part of our PR is diserfication of our business portfolio and expanding into the civillian markets. "De-weaponising" our IP to "Make the World a Better Place" is part of our strategy.

Criminals and terrorists using our civillian tech as weapons is as much our legal liability as clockmakers being responsible for their products being used for bomb parts.

 

[Torgamous]

And...Iron Man DOES hoard his power armor.

Click to shrink...

Lex Luthor doesn't. Literally the first thing he does in Superman: the Animated Series is show off an exosuit with intent to sell. He later collaborates with John Henry Irons to make an exosuit for the cops. Honorable mention to the robots he developed in collaboration with Wayne that Bruce wouldn't let him sell weaponized versions of.

We're not Tony Stark. We're a businessman first, and a guy with power armor maybe somewhere in the top ten.

Part of our PR is diserfication of our business portfolio and expanding into the civillian markets. "De-weaponising" our IP to "Make the World a Better Place" is part of our strategy.

Click to shrink...

This is America. Making weapons is Making the World a Better Place, so long as those weapons go to Our Heroes In Uniform who are Fighting For Our Freedom in whichever country is totally somehow threatening our freedom this year. And ourthe Friendly Neighborhood Police are definitely going to need heavier stuff as Superman begets Superman villains.

I don't think anyone is suggesting selling our weapons at Walmart. Just continuing to sell to the American government, as we have been to no loss of reputation. Whatever happens after that isn't our problem. Nobody blamed Chrysler for Shawn Nelson.

 

[Black King]

Come off it you know it's way superior it allows him to stand up to superman, not defeat him sure but stand up to him for a while is easily better then anything we have right now.

Click to shrink...

We don't know what bonuses our exosuit gives so....no we don't know that.

We're not giving them exo suits if we're working with the program we will have access to the data they have, we help them better there gear we get the data on what it's capable of so we can work on making our suits better.

Click to shrink...

I mean....we are. We're explicitly selling our exosuits to them as well as other free information.

They make better suits due to the lower dc who's to say we as a weapons manufacture can't get the contract to make them and from there use what they give us to improve our gear

Even then we could always buy some off the black market becasue it'll get there sooner then later and study it from there.

Click to shrink...

So give away/sell our only design of an exosuit in hopes of getting a contract to make the better exosuits they come up with? Or to buy one off the black market? How does that make any kind of sense? If we were going to get the contract, we'd get it anyways. Same with black market buying. None of this requires us to sell our best exosuit to them.

Do you not understand how a working relationship works? We help him as he's an ally and he helps us, he's already done so by providing opportunities, information and using his influence to help mitigate the tax laws that hit us last turn

Don't help him and he won't help us, we can't solo the world we need allies and the only way were going to keep them is to help them.

Click to shrink...

You seem to not understand. He's not helping us. Ever. So far his 'help' has been an offer to help him. That's about it. As far as things that matter. Like tech. Sorry if I don't rate taxes as important as world changing tech.

And no one said not to help, just not to give our best stuff.

But why hide it when it's not even our best gear? It's not like we're shouting to the world what our trump cards are, hoarding everything won't help us at all.

Click to shrink...

It is our best gear right now. As far as exosuits go.

from their perspective we are the free loot boxes. You don't attack the guy that is giving you and a small handful of others free useful stuff. You help them so they are in a position to keep giving you stuff. If we go full isolationist, then they'll start to get nervous about what we're working on in secret, by helping them they give us the benefit of the doubt. Its the difference between "What the heck are they working on and is it dangerous to me?" and "I wonder what they'll show off next time."

If we help Eiling and the US make their exosuits, then as long as we don't commit treason they shouldn't see the need to use them against us, they'll send them against the guys that screw with us. We're the ones that convinced Eiling to push for war in Santa Prisca after all. We just need to keep a tight control on some high end items we have, like the Plant serum and the 3-D printer technology.

Click to shrink...

I'll give the benefit of the doubt that you're just being optimistic but...attacking a former ally who's no longer useful is exactly the MO of the US Gov't both IRL and in comic universes. So they certainly WOULD attack us despite giving them 'goodies' and despite being on their side. It happens all the time. Whether through a change in regime or an increase in threat.

Lex Luthor doesn't. Literally the first thing he does in Superman: the Animated Series is show off an exosuit with intent to sell. He later collaborates with John Henry Irons to make an exosuit for the cops. Honorable mention to the robots he developed in collaboration with Wayne that Bruce wouldn't let him sell weaponized versions of.

We're not Tony Stark. We're a businessman first, and a guy with power armor maybe somewhere in the top ten.

Click to shrink...

Lex Luthor has never sold his best stuff though. Which is my literal point.

Fun fact, it's estimated that Tony Stark is richer than Lex Luthor so...