THE INFINITE BROOD (Starcraft/Supreme Commander Crossover Quest!)

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THE SWARM SHEET
  • Informational
    • The Brood of Blades
    ​
    Cerebrate Prime: Samantha Clarke
    LEVEL: 5
    XP: 205/210
    TRAITS
    Strategic Genius: Once per structured encounter, Sam can create a piece of the environment that is in her favor as a sticky spark. Roll a d3 for its value.
    Empathetic: upon meeting an NPC, learn their motivation!
    Legendary Commander: Gain 4 Command sparks at the beginning of each mission/combat. Command sparks may be spent to give NPCs orders, which they may either obey or refuse to obey (doing nothing instead.) Command sparks may not be regained via skills or powers.
    Hunted: Something wants her - but for what? +1 Danger to all scenes​
    SKILLS
    CLOSE COMBAT (2): Brawling, Edged Weapons
    PERSONAL (2): Awareness, Resilience
    SOCIAL (4): Charm, Empathy, Leadership, Taunt​
    MASTERY
    ACU Pilot (2): Nanofabrication [Mass], ObSat Operations [Range]
    The Hilt (4): Biomorphic Spawning (People), Regeneration (Durability), Physical Perfection (Speed), Telepathic Dominion (Range)​

    POWERS
    The Living Swarm
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Gain 1 Living Swarm spark, +1 per vent reduction.​
    The Living Swarm: While this swarm exists, move in three dimensions and through anything smaller than a keyhole, reforming at will. You may expend these sparks to cause 3 Hit Sparks in a Area 2 radius.​
    Area Upgrade: +1 to Area Characteristic​

    Biomorphic Reinforcement
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create 1 Biomorphic Reinforcement spark, +1 per vent reduction, which can be given out to anyone within Range 2, or to yourself
    Biomorphic Reinforcement: +1 to Damage or Mass characteristic for the purpose of raw physical strength/feats.

    Back to Back
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Choose 1 ally (+1 per vent reduction), within Range 1. Each can take one action using one of your skills, any of them that you wish. Once they have done so, you may make a free attack with your melee weapon, getting +1 to your skill per ally that acted.​

    Adaptation
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create a number of sparks equal to the enemy's difficulty, narratively based on turning their abilities against them. Works on enemies of Diff 2>, +2 per vent reduction.​

    Just as Planned…
    Vent: 6-0
    Effect: Vent 6 heat and create 1 Planning Spark for her or an ally, +1 Spark per vent reduction.​
    Planning: The person holding this Spark can expend this to get +1 to a skill check as a free action. Using this Stack counts as you are helping for the purpose of relationships.​

    GEAR
    Zeratul's Psi-Blades
    Adds: +0 (Edged Weapons) | Characteristics: Damage [Speed] (4)[1]​
    Shadowstep (3): Can expend as a free action to move without crossing intervening space.
    Guarded Space (3): Can expend to use Damage as a secondary characteristic for Durability, reducing incoming Damage characteristics.​

    GALACTIC WAR
    Victory Points: 5    ​
    RESOURCES​
    TERRAN DOMINION [Background] (1)​
    The men and material of the Dominion - limited, but they're mustering as we speak. ​
    ALLIANCE EXPEDITIONARY FORCES [Mastery] (1)​
    While you have access to several ACUs of every faction, they lack economic and technological support to be fully effective. ​
    ZERG HIVE [Mastery] (1)​
    The scant few Zerg you control that are free of Amon's influence. Mostly Zerglings. ​
    AEON FLEET [Background] (1)​
    While half a dozen CZARs seem impressive, they're not actually well made for ship to ship combat. ​
    ALLIED COHESION [Motivation] (1)​
    The alliance is fragile and weak.​

    FRONTS​
    Trade Sector-34-51 [Pirate Activity]
    Pirates Raiding 6 (Supply Lines in Disarray 1)
    COMMAND: Jim Raynor | ARMY: Raynor's Raiders
    RESULTS: Pending

    Braxis [Zerg Invasion]
    Borealis Siege 6 (Zerg Rampage1)
    COMMAND: General Samantha Clarke | ARMY: Brood Clarke
    RESULTS: Pending

    Typhan II [Active Xel'Naga ACU]
    Typhan II Occupied 6 (Xel'Naga ACU Spotted 1)
    COMMAND: Lt. Colonel Mathew Horner | ARMY: UEF Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending

    Deep Space Sector 981 [Hive Fleet Identified]
    Zerg Hive Fleet Spotted 6 (Kerrigan? 1)
    COMMAND: Citizen-Commander Dostya | ARMY: CN Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending
    ​
    ENEMY ASSETS (Currently Known)
    ​
    THE GOLDEN ARMADA
    ACTIVITY: Unknown | Threat Level: 6​
     
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  • Informational
    • DragonCobolt said:
    You have nice jokey human Sarah Kerrigan, hammy and bloodthirsty infested Kerrigan, then you have brood ear Kerrigan which flips between deceptive and bloodthirsty and does several things that make very little sense if she's NOT still under the control of the overmind.

    Like, she does this incredibly baroque revenge plot on a character named Zeratul and says it's payback for what he did to her - but…man, Zeratul didn't do shit to you? Arguably infested but free Kerrigan should be thanking Zeratul for helping to kill the overmind and several Cerebrates (who are her direct competitors.)

    Like brood war Kerrigan is the most well written villain but makes little sense to me unless you think Kerrigan humanity has been completely overwritten even without the overmind around.

    Then StarCraft 2 has two variations! In the Terran campaign, Kerrigan is pure evil but lacks the scheming and planning of Brood War - and I still am not sure what her goal…was. She launches an invasion of the Dominion then just kinda romps around until James Raynor gets a magic artifact that turns her human!

    Next, we have the zerg campaign Kerrigan, who is basically an antihero: she has zerg powers and is fighting the dominion but for good causes this time and not just to eat everyone. She will still do horrible things to survive, but when she is given the chance, she spares lives and civilians.
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    I believe her implied plan in invading the dominion is attacking Narud's Mobius Corp and harvesting the artifact/keystone. Though why she wants the later other than as a way to make sure its not sued on her is up in the air.
     
    If Jim's on Mar Sara leading a rebellion against the Dominion, then that means he's not on Aiur to act as the rearguard that's going to shut down the gate to Shakuras to prevent the Zerg from following through with the refugees and could result in the Zerg managing to follow through and cause even more casualties.

    [X] Head to [Unknown] (Jungles of Aiur)

    Edit:
    [X] Plan: Aiur Interrupt
    -[X] Matt & Mira head to Haven (Begin Operation: Safe Haven)
    -[X] Clarke heads to [Unknown] (Jungles of Aiur)
     
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    Spart117MC said:
    If Jim's on Mar Sara leading a rebellion against the Dominion, then that means he's not on Aiur to act as the rearguard that's going to shut down the gate to Shakuras to prevent the Zerg from following through with the refugees and could result in the Zerg managing to follow through and cause even more casualties.
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    Good point.

    Lets get some good Protoss diplo points

    [X] Plan: Aiur Interrupt
     
    I think the best resolution for the different Kerrigans is that Kerrigan is being controlled by Amon for all of Brood War and WoL (both evil, with the difference in treacherousness caused by a change in writers). That meshes with what we hear from the Zeratul side missions, which explain that Kerrigan was created in an attempt by the Overmind to slip out of Amon's control. De-infesting her with the Keystone breaks her free, and then when she re-infests herself she does it with the help of the Primal Zerg who were never part of the swarm.

    It still leaves a few holes (like why Dr. Narud is trying to lead you to the artifact that will ruin Amon' plans), but it lets you explain the massive backstab-fest of Brood War as "Amon is a massive drama queen and loves plans where you make your enemies destroy themselves." (See also: Artanis getting wrecked on Aiur.)

    That still leaves quite a lot of murders that Kerrigan did after de-infestation, including a few entire planets she has the Swarm consume off-screen for unclear reasons. But, well, Heart of the Swarm is kind of a mess in general.

    Anyway,
    [X] Head to Haven (Begin Operation: Safe Haven)
    I think we've put this one off long enough.
     
    Spart117MC said:
    If Jim's on Mar Sara leading a rebellion against the Dominion, then that means he's not on Aiur to act as the rearguard that's going to shut down the gate to Shakuras to prevent the Zerg from following through with the refugees and could result in the Zerg managing to follow through and cause even more casualties.

    [X] Head to [Unknown] (Jungles of Aiur)

    Edit:
    [X] Plan: Aiur Interrupt
    -[X] Matt & Mira head to Haven (Begin Operation: Safe Haven)
    -[X] Clarke heads to [Unknown] (Jungles of Aiur)
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    Changing my vote to
    [X] Plan: Aiur Interrupt
     
    beleester said:
    I think the best resolution for the different Kerrigans is that Kerrigan is being controlled by Amon for all of Brood War and WoL (both evil, with the difference in treacherousness caused by a change in writers). That meshes with what we hear from the Zeratul side missions, which explain that Kerrigan was created in an attempt by the Overmind to slip out of Amon's control. De-infesting her with the Keystone breaks her free, and then when she re-infests herself she does it with the help of the Primal Zerg who were never part of the swarm.

    It still leaves a few holes (like why Dr. Narud is trying to lead you to the artifact that will ruin Amon' plans), but it lets you explain the massive backstab-fest of Brood War as "Amon is a massive drama queen and loves plans where you make your enemies destroy themselves." (See also: Artanis getting wrecked on Aiur.)

    That still leaves quite a lot of murders that Kerrigan did after de-infestation, including a few entire planets she has the Swarm consume off-screen for unclear reasons. But, well, Heart of the Swarm is kind of a mess in general.

    Anyway,
    [X] Head to Haven (Begin Operation: Safe Haven)
    I think we've put this one off long enough.
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    But that just makes her Sylvanas controlled by the Jailer.
     
    beleester said:
    That still leaves quite a lot of murders that Kerrigan did after de-infestation, including a few entire planets she has the Swarm consume off-screen for unclear reasons. But, well, Heart of the Swarm is kind of a mess in general.
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    people refer to this and I played heart of the swarm and genuinely did not notice this at all - which means it's easy enough to pretend didn't happen because it's...wildly out of keeping with the focused on events.

    EDIT: also, re speculations on Kerrigan...I prefer explanations that are rooted in a character. I'd rather junk or toss out canonical events to make a characterization work than junk a characterization by making a someone into a puppet
     
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    Avangelion said:
    Quick thing, how's the voting counted? I crossed and removed my last vote cuz other thoughts
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    The forum software goes over posts from a selected range and counts votes based on what is present within those posts at the time of the tally.

    You can change up your vote after you've made your initial choice either by going back and editing that initial post containing your vote or by posting a reply containing a new vote.

    Vote tallies can be configured to read all posts and the votes contained within, but the default setting is to ignore a poster's previous votes in favor of their most recent one.
     
    Spart117MC said:
    The forum software goes over posts from a selected range and counts votes based on what is present within those posts at the time of the tally.

    You can change up your vote after you've made your initial choice either by going back and editing that initial post containing your vote or by posting a reply containing a new vote.

    Vote tallies can be configured to read all posts and the votes contained within, but the default setting is to ignore a poster's previous votes in favor of their most recent one.
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    ohhh- got it! Makes sense how it works,
    yeah Iunno why I didn't think about it more but this-
    Spart117MC said:
    If Jim's on Mar Sara leading a rebellion against the Dominion, then that means he's not on Aiur to act as the rearguard that's going to shut down the gate to Shakuras to prevent the Zerg from following through with the refugees and could result in the Zerg managing to follow through and cause even more casualties.
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    makes sense in hindsight, if that's the case and whatnot (cuz I can't remember where it was mentioned about what's going on with Jim). I was operating with "well I guess they'll be sorta okay like in canon?" but I wasn't sure what he was doing- which shifts it up a bit. Either way we'll be sending Mira and Matt over to help the colonials on Haven

    Vote change to:
    [X] Plan: Aiur Interrupt
     
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    We heard a bit about Raynor's Raiders in the interlude prior to the mission to Redstone.

    DragonCobolt said:
    "We can infiltrate it with a small team," Tosh said, grinning. "And we can upload a propaganda program that can break the news of our arrival as we see fit. The outer colonies are already simmering with rebellion - Mar Sara, for instance. There are reports coming in of something called the Raiders..."

    "Not just the Raiders," Matt said, sitting up. "Raynor's Raiders."

    The name was faintly familiar. Your brow drew in and your fingers drummed on the counter. "Isn't he dead?" You asked, slowly.

    "The Dominion stopped mentioning him in any of their propaganda," Matt said, smirking slightly. "We think that they were hoping to utilize him as a martyr. They must have thought he was dead - but, well. As we've noticed, the Dominion's spy network isn't exactly perfect."
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    I took that to mean that the Raiders were seen operating on Mar Sara and back then I assumed it meant things were taking place after Jim had finished helping out the Protoss. With the reveal that the evacuation of Aiur is ongoing, it's starting to look like he didn't stay stick around with the Protoss the way he did in Brood War and instead went off to do what he did in Wings of Liberty.

    The choice of going to Mar Sara being titled "Alliance Day", a clear reference to the first mission of Wings of Liberty "Liberation Day", further suggests this being the case.
     
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    Spart117MC said:
    With the reveal that the evacuation of Aiur is ongoing, it's starting to look like he didn't stay stick around with the Protoss the way he did in Brood War and instead went off to do what he did in Wings of Liberty.

    The choice of going to Mar Sara being titled "Alliance Day", a clear reference to the first mission of Wings of Liberty "Liberation Day", further suggests this being the case.
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    Huh,
    Yeah, fair enough. Maybe some shuffling of events to merge the SC1 and SC2 missions?
     
    In any case the Protoss could use the help. The Fall of Aiur is what kills off a major portion of their species.

    The canon evacuation itself was a pretty harried affair that saw hundreds of thousands dying during the evacuation and left many stranded on Aiur when things got so bad that Raynor and Fenix felt it necessary to shut down the warp gate from their end. Without the Raiders there things are going to be even worse.

    Every other mission beyond the one to Aiur can wait without that resulting in a staggering loss of life.
     
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    Minor spoiler: I kinda lost track of where I would put Jim Raynor, so I've kept the hints of where he is vague, so he can be where it'd be funnest in the story.

    but, yeah, in general, the longer you wait on a planet, the more it'll get worse. The Aiur situation is...semi-stable, cause of proton cannon rush. But it's not going to stay that way for longer than 2 missions.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    Like brood war Kerrigan is the most well written villain but makes little sense to me unless you think Kerrigan humanity has been completely overwritten even without the overmind around.
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    Eh, it makes sense to me. She was betrayed by someone she had trusted and changed for the worse. So she decided to become Queen Bitch of the Universe to never let anything similar happen to her again.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    The Aiur situation is...semi-stable, cause of proton cannon rush. But it's not going to stay that way for longer than 2 missions.
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    Oh that's good- so we could do one set of other missions before going back to that one, would make it less of a surprise to the Protoss on Aiur when we get there- would give people a heads up and a chance to do things with awareness of us, but it works for potential allies too, so laying groundwork-

    uhhh... Urgency or Aiur Interrupt both seem alright- halp
     
    Personally I'm sticking with going to Aiur over the sending out the propaganda broadcast because I'm not convinced we're in a position to start taunting Arcturus right now. I don't think the expedition is all that set up in the sector yet and getting his attention is bound to make any further actions against the Dominion harder and invite Dominion interference in whatever actions Clarke takes.
     
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Nov 13, 2023 at 10:19 PM, finished with 57 posts and 24 votes.
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    It looks like the Galileo wins!

    Robotninja said:
    Eh, it makes sense to me. She was betrayed by someone she had trusted and changed for the worse. So she decided to become Queen Bitch of the Universe to never let anything similar happen to her again.
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    Some of that tracks, but I just don't buy some of her cackling evil. Course, part of that is Brood War's plot is incredibly pared down compared to the lavishly overproduced Starcraft 2 - so, there's just straight up less time for characterization!
     
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