Let's make a team!

Team Members:
 - Argo, the Bull, played by McS;
 - Leech, the Doomed, played by Baeraad;
 - Harbinger, the Harbinger, played by Odin;
 - Reverie, the Innocent, played by Nox;
 - Ironheart, the Reformed, played by Riven;
- Cyclone Burst, the Protégé, played by PSinha.

There are several things we need to determine now. Feel free to discuss them in any order in this thread. I will put all the relevant information here once we're done.

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1. When The Team First Came Together

There is an official(? I think, anyway) preferred order in which those questions should be answered:

Argo:
We defeated a dangerous enemy. Who or what was it?

Ironheart:
We fought a terrible enemy from my old life. Who was it, and what did they take from me?

Reverie:
My future self was involved, and I tried to stop them. It took the rest of the team to help me succeed. How did we stymie my future self’s plans?

Leech:
We paid a high cost for victory. What was it?

Cyclone Burst:
We stuck together after all was said and done. Why? How’d we keep in contact?

Harbinger:
We averted a disaster from the future’s history books. What was the disaster? What effect do we hope it had on the timeline?

While each player has the final authority over the answer to their character's question - feel free to discuss them, and the whole situation, among yourselves and to give each other suggestions. It may well go smoother that way.

Anyway, it sounds like it was a real mess. :P Have fun with it.

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2. Relationships

I strongly recommend giving each character at least a couple of relationships (surely you people are not so coldhearted as to avoid giving one without me saying so!). I see no reason to force some artificial symmetry, though. Go with what makes sense.

Argo:
Reverie is your love. You’ve opened up to them about the worst parts of your past.
Harbinger is your rival. They tried to control you at a crucial moment.

Leech:
You told Harbinger all about your doom and the danger you’re in.
You’d love to kiss Ironheart before your doom comes.

Harbinger:
Leech turns away from the hero’s path, according to your history books. You have to prevent that from happening.
You’ve always idolized Argo, but it’s too awkward to admit it to them now that you’ve met them in real life. Keep it cool, keep it cool.

Reverie:
Ironheart is helping me understand this weirdo future. I follow their lead.
I saved someone important to Argo; they’re now my biggest defender.

Ironheart:
I’ve earned the trust of Reverie, and I follow their example of what a hero should be.
I did something terrible to Argo once. I hope they can forgive me one day.

Cyclone Burst:
You and ____________________ teamed up a few times before the rest of you came together.
Your mentor is cautious; they asked you to keep an eye on __________________.

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3. Starting Influence

Argo:
You’re selective about who you let in. Give your love and rival Influence over you, but that’s it. (Reverie, Harbinger)

Leech:
These people matter for what you need to do. Give Influence to two of your teammates. (Harbinger, Argo)

Harbinger:
Every member of your team has the power to change the future—your future. Give everyone influence over you. (Argo, Leech, Reverie, Ironheart)

Reverie:
These people are your guides, your friends, and the ones helping you find a better way. But you are careful about whose guidance you follow. Give Influence over you to two teammates. (?)

Ironheart:
Do you talk openly about your days as a villain? If so, give each team member Influence over you.
If not, just give Influence to the one teammate whose example you most closely follow. (Reverie)

Cyclone Burst:
Choose your demeanor: playful or business.
If you choose playful, give Influence to two teammates.
If you choose business, give Influence to no teammates.

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4. Other Team Questions

There are a few other questions that I made up and that we may as well start thinking about now.

Name: Do you have one? It'd be really helpful, you know. Then again, you could decide this later.

Leader: Likewise. Maybe you'll never get an official leader, though. People could take charge on a case by case basis. It's New Atlantis, anything goes.

Premise: Were you just in the right place at the right time, or was there some other reason why you came together as you did? Honestly, this looks like a right place, right time situation, but then again one can think of another explanation. Like Harbinger trying to get you together on purpose, for example. Or some shared enemy. Or...

Affiliation: ...do you have a sponsor? Some of you already have links to powerful organisations or individuals that may have either arranged for you to act as a team in the first place or assumed some responsibility for you afterwards. Ironheart has an ATLAS probation officer; Argo is linked to Dunamis Incorporated. Cyclone Burst's Mentor could pull strings as well. Having a sponsor would give you some resources and leverage and give adults more opportunities to control you (and you more opportunities to rebel). That said, you look like an independent sort of group to start with. You can always find a sponsor or some allies later. I could be reading things wrong, though.

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5. Miscellaneous Character Details

It's not too late to tweak your characters and their backstories, so long as it's not a radical departure. In particular, there may be good opportunities to establish some extra connections between your characters or their backstory elements (connections between NPCs, setting mechanics, etc.). I may have a few suggestions/questions for you in that vein later. In the meantime, have at it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:25, Sun 29 Aug 2021.

Hey, all! After the in-depth backstory work with the GM (thanks GM!), I'm hyped to start Mutual Plotting with everybody. I'm just going to give everybody's characters another read and then start throwing out ideas. It seems like it's going to be a very interesting, multi-faceted group.

Not looking to skip the skip the queue so no specifics here, but I thought I'd lay out some immediate thoughts and reminders that might be helpful as we go through this:

When The Team First Came Together

Artiana's villainous past is heavily tied in to the Corsair Network, an organisation which lends itself to a narrative involving infiltration of New Atlantis, smuggling/tech theft in or out of the place, and perhaps just generally lending mercenary muscle to (or teaming up with) some other threat in the event that their plans and intel aligns. I'm likely going with an enemy from Artiana's past who was looking to bring her back into the fold (by choice or by force) and drag her off the island, but that doesn't have to be the case or could be a target of convenience secondary to whatever other grand scheme is going on.

I'm very flexible if any coherent ideas get put forward to tie anything together.

Relationships

I'm a little unsure how I'm going to make I did something terrible to... work with this team as it looks like all the other team members might (?) have been in totally different parts of the world (or the timeline) during the period when Artiana was an active villain. Any thoughts how we could make that work or should I suggest a replacement prompt?

Starting Influence

I feel like I want to get a sense of how long the team's been together and what other people are feeling before making a call here. Looking to compliment the group in terms of outlook.

I have nothing concrete yet looking to talk about it a little before fully committing to an idea.

When The Team First Come Together
It looks like the Bull's and the Reformed's prompts are similar so I don't want to go with an enemy that makes what they want to do with their prompt more difficult to work. I'll try to have something up tomorrow while keeping it vague that Ironheart can add on the person we faced from her past.

Relationships
I'll go ahead and say that to me Bull labeling one of the team as their love doesn't mean romance. I know that sort of thing tends to happen in these games but I also know not every player is into that sort of thing. Keeping that in mind I'm more of the love being a friend since this is someone who Argo felt comfortable enough to talk about their past with.

The rival on the other hand is someone who tried to stop Argo when he was doing something. The what and why will be hashed but that aside if anyone would not like to have one of those roles let me know. I don't want to make someone have to put up with Argo in this regard if those sort of connections do not interest them though it's part of the playbook that the Bull's love and rival can change later on.

Starting influence
Mine are tied to the love and rival so once I have those figured out the influence sorts itself out.

@Ironheart: Argo might be able to fit the role of the one who you did something terrible to. He's been under the control of those who took him for a while. It could be something such as she once helped them move Argo or maybe to change his backstory up slightly he broke out once before and Ironheart was part of the group hired to bring him back in which they were successful in doing. His mind was wiped of the experience so it could be one sided for now or maybe he remembers pieces of that time which makes him feel uneasy around Ironheart.

Of course it's also worth remembering that we have a triple-threat here. Even if we reconcile those two together we still need a situation where it makes sense for Vigilance to be involved.

While I appreciate the suggestion, I think a bit of a problem with trying to connect our characters through that relationship is that they lived most of their lives half a world apart. Unless there'd be some reason for Argo to pass into the hands of a group operating out of West Africa and the Mediterranean I can't see the two meeting before New Atlantis, and by that time we're already past the villain days.

Re: When the Team First Came Together/the Triple Threat

I was planning to try and figure out more specific details after Argo/Ironheart kick around ideas for the enemies, but my not-very-specific idea is that Vigilance was using the diversion of (multiple?) enemies to sneak something important off New Atlantis that wasn’t supposed to leave New Atlantis and get it to another American hero waiting offshore. You know, spy nonsense.

The tricky thing with Vigilance is she’s still definitely a Hero, just a Dark-as-Hell, Intimidating, Those-Shades-of-Gray-Are-Looking-Rather-Black-In-This-Particular-Light, Fully-Engaged-in-Nationalist-Cold-War-Shenanigans Hero—so I thought it would make sense for the “stop Vigilance!” portion of what does sound like a right epic mess be focused on making sure state secrets/potentially dangerous to world peace (vague hand waving) didn’t get out into the greater world.

So foiling Vigilance's plans wouldn't get the publicity that, say, taking down the more obvious threats would get, but the team wold know what they did.

Relationships

If anybody wants to volunteer for one of Reverie’s spots, please raise your hand! Or if anybody thinks they specifically are unsuited, lemme know that too, because I’m about to argue why every single character could potentially fill every single spot :P

The one who’s helping her understand this weirdo future. My instinct for this one is to say either Artiana, Argo, or weirdly enough Harbinger, though I could make a case for any of the characters.

It sounds like Artiana might wind up being the oldest, and even if she isn’t, she clearly has the most practical experience in this world/getting along with ATLAS and New Atlantis. Added bonus, Reverie is a hopeful idealist who’d love to think people can change, and a Reformed ticks that box. Argo comes from Reverie’s time or close enough to it (even if he was frozen rather than properly time travelling into the future) that she probably feels a kinship there she doesn’t feel with the others, so even though this weirdo future isn’t really his time either, she’d be ready to accept his opinion of the present/not be too shy to ask him loads of questions. Harbinger is an on-purpose time traveller, not an accidental, oh shit something went wrong time traveller, so I could see Reverie taking that to mean that Harbinger has got some sort of authority on how to act. Artiana/Argo seems a little more likely to me, but I’m pretty open depending on what people want/would make the most interesting story for people. Thoughts? Comments? Volunteers?

@Ironheart, @Argo

How long ago were Ironheart's villain days?

Argo/Ironheart: That seems like a potentially pretty cool idea for Ironheart’s “I did something terrible to,” especially if he half-remembers while she fully remembers that time she helped catch the supersoldier kid trying to escape and returned ‘im to his high-paying captors. Some potential for some interesting RP down the line. It seems to me like Orthus might easily have been moving him around for various field tests and passed through the Corsair Network's realm of influence? Perhaps he woke up/was rescued once before, and, again, wound up in the Corsair Network's realm of influence, and they were contracted to get him back?

Otherwise there’s Cyclone Burst. Perhaps the Network could have tangled with his mentor before, especially if they’re engaged in nefarious smuggling and/or mercenary-muscle-lending. This presumes that the mentor might have taken Cyclone Burst out on a traveling mission of some sort - but then, Cyclone Burst is in New Atlantis, after all, so why not?

...There are also the market fires his parents died in; perhaps the Corsair Network was around? Mind you, perhaps involvement in the parent-killing market fires is too dark an “I did something terrible to," and it would have been the wrong part of the world, unless the Corsair Network has a sister pirate network operating closer to wherever Cyclone Burst/his master are from.

Re: When the Team First Came Together/the Triple Threat

Okay so ... this in no way is meant as some kind of definitive "I want to do this and exactly this" statement, but here's the super vague idea I was working with in a vacuum (that is: with absolutely no regard for anyone else's prompts) when I was generally brainstorming stuff in case I ended up making the team:

Artiana has as one of her past connections an individual known as Ash, a pyrokene (of sorts) who she had a rather contentious and adversarial relationship with. I had been thinking that perhaps Ash was acting as muscle with a crew who were part of the Network's expansionary efforts into New Atlantis (or had gone rogue after a falling out and tried to strike it big there), had somehow learned that Artiana had relocated there (be that through a source/informant working on the island or just coincidence) and decided to bring her home - be that for spite, loyalty or the pursuit of a reward. They brought some backup, cornered her on her current worksite somewhere in Downtown, and after a cursory attempt at recruiting her forced a brawl that inevitably started set half the block ablaze.

I was totally open to the eventual team members being drawn to this and saving the day or showing up too late/focusing on stopping the fire and having to track and rescue a kidnapped Artiana, maybe being led to some other crime in progress going on under the radar or a hideout in the process. Alternatively/additionally they could have been the only people able to respond to the incident as Ash was taking their shot while some other high-profile incident was drawing in the big guns. That was just an idea anyway and not one that needs to make it into the game in any way shape or form.

Another vaguely-defined possibility would be that, say, Ash and their people were fed intel by Vigilance to convince them to target a Dunamis Incorporated facility that was doing some kind of research into superpowers - maybe directly linked to Argo but could also be unrelated. Ash took the bait out of the belief that they'd developed tech which could be used to enhanced superpowered beings - they've always had a bit of a complex over wanting more power and the respect that comes with it - and in doing so provided a big messy distraction for Vigilance to do ... whatever super sneaky things they were up to.

Just some thoughts to prompt discussion anyway.

Relationships

Artiana could be brought down to 17-18 if there's a particularly notable age gap. She's on the older end because I wanted the key points of her backstory to have some room to breathe, but there's no reason that can't be condensed or start a little earlier if everyone else turns out to be curving lower.

I'd be totally on board with taking on that relationship if you think it makes sense and nobody else has any strong attachment to it. The Innocent and Reformed make quite good foils as one is trying to avoid slipping into darkness while the other is doing their best to claw their way into the light, and it could be neat to see how their more idealistic/pragmatic elements play off each other. I can definitely think of some interesting ways their perspectives might be complimentary or lead them into conflict. Not sure if Artiana'd be the best person to help someone acclimatise to New Atlantis, but then the prompt didn't say they had to be doing a good job of things...

Other Things

Artiana's probably something like 12-18 months removed from villainy, not all of which has been spent on New Atlantis or indeed outside of an ATLAS holding cell - could be adjusted either way if needs be. I wanted her as someone who got dragged back into the superhero/villain life by the inciting incident rather than someone who'd already been trying to play the hero before she joined up with the team.

I'm absolutely fine with playing the antagonist for someone else if we can find a way to sort out any weirdness with the when/where/how. I think the nature of our PCs does make that sort of thing a little difficult though given that we seem to have ended up with a team where the characters have either spent most of their lives 5-10k+ miles apart or not even existed in the same time period until quite recently. Any suggestions are super welcome.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:55, Sun 08 Aug 2021.

Okay, I've skimmed everyone's threads. Let's see now...

Leech has told Harbinger the fact that he's dying and that he hopes to stop Doctor Atrocious before his time runs out. She's a super-genius, so he thinks she might be able to understand a science-based threat. Also, in a weird way, she knows what it is to have no future. Harbinger has Influence over Leech.

Leech also feels an odd connection to Argo, one escaped child-soldier to another. He isn't quite sure how to approach him, but he views him, vaguely, as a sort of older-brother figure. Argo also has Influence over Leech.

Leech would like to kiss Ironheart before he dies. He may have a thing for bad girls... though he isn't sure he's comfortable with what that says about him. He's also entirely and completely clueless about all things relating to love and attraction, so it mostly shows by him getting weird and flustered around her.

@Reverie Argo has been giving some crash courses about what has transpired since he was taken along with being educated about how to behave nowadays. The social norms and all that jazz. So it could be fun to see him fill the role of Reverie following his lead which then involves them comparing notes while potentially reminiscing about "the good ol' days".

@Ironheart I was just throwing a suggestion out there. I left it vague but Orthrus has been disavowed from the government for quite a while and moving around as a result from it. So it could have been a case of while transporting Argo from an area where Ironheart would have been active in, a mishap occurred and they needed the extra hands to bring him in.

@Leech I like the reasoning behind Argo having Influence over your character. Both have been through the wringer being experiments to be made into weapons. It will be interesting to see how they interact with one another as the game progresses.

As for my prompt on the enemy we faced I'm mulling it over still but I'll have it something later on today.

I like how this is coming along so far. I don't want to interfere with the process too much, but I may as well weigh in to smoothen things out.

Re: doing something terrible. That is something of a wrinkle. I think that relationship prompt (as well as others) can be interpreted creatively. The main thing is that the Reformed has something to feel guilty over and the victim has something to justly hold against the Reformed (whether they choose to do so or not).

The Argo option sounds ideal to me. It was already suggested in his thread that Argo was deployed in a field test somewhere before Orthrus moved him to New Atlantis. Both Africa and the Mediterranean have plenty of neglected and/or war-torn areas that would be ideal for testing out a human weapon. The Corsair Network could have helped get him in and out. They may even have killed two birds with one stone by providing a target. Perhaps Ironheart was involved and had to subdue him when his conditioning slipped for the first time. Given how destructive he is, it may even have been her best option in the moment, as far as she knew. He may or may not even recall it at first given his memory issues, but she would. Lots of potential there, if both of you are up for it.

Alternatively, though, less direct options could work as well - such as the Corsair Network's dealings with one Dr. Atrocious, for example. He must get his equipment and supplies from somewhere. It's not as personal or dramatic, but it may still meet the requirements, and there may be some interesting ways to flesh it out.

Re: ages. It would be nice to sort that out before we are done here. Leech is technically 3 years old, but physically and mentally sort of 15. Ironheart is "approaching 20" - I can't imagine ageing her down to 18 would change much. How old are Cyclone Burst, Reverie, Harbinger and Argo? Time travel and similar shenanigans notwithstanding.

Re: how long the team has been together - another fine question. Probably best answered once you have sorted out the initial incident.

Belated addition:
Re: Reverie and Argo. Argo is from near the start of the war, Reverie is from a short time after. They are closer to each other in time of origin, of course, but the differences may be bigger than the dates alone would imply. In no way an objection to the link - just noting it here. If anything those differences may make it more interesting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:56, Sun 08 Aug 2021.

I was making a reply of my own but it seems you beat me to it, GM.

No problem whatsoever with what you're proposing there - any of the angles. I'd been volunteering the shift on my end to put Artiana in the US on business on at least one occasion - perhaps La Reyna or one of her successors looking to open ties with an Orthrus that needed roads to get things out of the country - so I'm very willing to have an incident along the lines of what Argo suggested take place in the States if that makes for a better fit.

Very happy to let you have the deciding vote here, Argo. We're largely shaping your character's backstory here when it comes to how and where Orthrus was operating, and pretty much everything on my end (feelings and actions) should remain pretty constant no matter where and how we stage things.

I'll reply more in-depth to other comments in a few, but for age I was thinking 16 or 17, and I'm not envisioning that Reverie's been in the present for longer than a year (because at that point, she might get a little worried/angsty, and I'd rather play that out IC if we ever come to it).

Response, continued.

Re: When the Team First Came Together/the Triple Threat



I can definitely see Vigilance deciding it might be a good way to kill two or three birds with one stone. Villains attack, villains get defeated, less villains plus useful distraction = a win for Vigilance's goals. I suspect Vigilance wouldn't do anything so careless as feed the intel directly / in an easy-to-trace way, but that's the beauty of mind control/implanting suggestions...

I'm not quite sure what Dunamis's actual allegiance or secret allegiance is, but perhaps there's some interesting corporate espionage reason between West/East/New Atlantean powers for Dunamis to have been targeted just then. I know this is all very vague, but I also suspect the team wouldn't have all the pieces of this puzzle, and if it ever comes out it'll come out in satisfying story drips/drabbles.


Re: Relationships

@Ironheart



I dig this a lot, esp. the bolded bit, so barring anything else that makes a lot more sense, I think I'll put Ironheart down for that relationship. It seems like it could be really dynamic.

@Argo



Oh man. I actually really love this, too. I think Ironheart fits more neatly into that relationship slot, but I don't think that precludes some of this being a thing. Perhaps they bond off-the-bat enough that Reverie can be the Bull's love/best pal? They're both out of their own times (beginning of war versus end of war is pretty interesting), so I could see them bonding a little bit/perhaps he'd think opening up to the telepath made sense anyway?

Uh, it also suddenly occurs to me that, I think, Argo is the only PC who has... family around? Perhaps in service of the best pals bit, he could slot into: I saved someone important to __________________; they’re now my biggest defender. And Reverie saves his brother at a time when he's too tied up to do it himself. Perhaps during the big coming together fight, if Dunamis is targeted?

Just some thoughts/brainstorming.

@Leech:

I like the reasoning you've got going for everything!

@Cyclone Burst, @Harbinger, @Leech:

Some random thoughts here.

I'm wondering whether it makes sense for you guys--Harbinger, Cyclone--to have worked together first (for Cyclone's relationship slot)? IF we do go with the inciting triple-threat bad guy stuff having a personal connection to Ironheart, Argo, and Reverie... perhaps Harbinger is like: Cyclone Burst, this is where we've got to be because this is where all three of these people are going to be muddled up, just gotta pick up Leech on the way. Then she impresses Leech with her Big Brain, and he's in. Or Leech and Cyclone Burst are already working together, and Harbinger shows up all, "Come with me, guys. I know something that's about to go down."

I don't know if you want to be the connective tissue in that way, Harbinger, and you guys might have other/cooler ideas, but just thought I'd throw this out there for discussion.

@GM:



Ah! That could make it more interesting, even. Do you have any idea what year the war ended? It seems like 'end of 70s,' but it might be helpful for me to know specifically, just so I can figure out how old Reverie was when it ended/figure out how old Vigilance is in 2001. No big rush/big deal.

@GM, @Ironheart, @Argo



I would watch this? Ha. I'm sure there could be other cool options, too, but for what my two cents are worth this seems like an interesting story.

The War is usually considered to have started in 1973 (with the official creation of the World Unity Coalition) and ended in 1979 (with the death of the Archlion, the last active Warlord). That said, for most of the Western Hemisphere, the War practically ended in 1977 with the defeat of the Steel Caudillo and the repulsion of the Cylien attack on US soil. Martial law continued for the rest of the decade, though. Even after it was officially lifted, many subtler repressive measures persisted to this day. Hope that helps.

@Ironheart the location of where your character apprehended mine does not matter much in the grand scheme of Argo's backstory. Orthrus has moved more than once and with Argo being on ice for most of the time spent as their prisoner. It can be pretty much wherever though maybe the GM can pick since this could be a place the team potentially goes to or is brought up in the media. That way it could lead to a scene of say Argo remembering being there but doesn't know how that makes sense and potential awkwardness.

@Reverie funny enough I think if your character saved Argo's brother who in turn becomes your biggest supporter that would make you unable to be the love. The reason being his brother is keeping their connection on the downlow and hardly seeing Argo for that matter. So to see another member of the team have his brother's support (probably more of a PR move with how Harold does things) it would irk Argo to no end. This could mean potential for Reverie being the rival even more so if the reason she tried to control him was due to his brother asking her to.

For Argo's age I have him being 17-18 since he was in the process of applying for colleges when the accident occurred.

@GM

That IS helpful, thank you! The only thing I need to decide is whether the in-joke of having her accidentally bamf to the future in 1985 ‘coz that’s the year “Back to the Future” comes out in reality is enough for me to make that the year. :P

@Argo

Hmmm! I'm not entirely sure rival + saving somebody relationships work in conjunction; it might have to be one or the other. Correct me if I'm wrong or toss out a different interpretation, but it seems like the spirit of the Innocent's relationship is along the lines of “this person is sure that you can avoid turning into your Future Self because of the good turn you did their person”—would that still fit? I suppose it could, depending on how you see the rivalry taking shape? Could be a fun dynamic! Somewhat one-sided one-upsmanship?

I wasn't really imagining Reverie and the brother interacting beyond a quick telekinesis catch when he gets flung off a building or something, but if something else sounds interesting, lay it out. That said, given who she’s trying to avoid becoming and the advantages she has when it comes to, uh, control, I think there’s probably a 0% chance Reverie would try and control Argo because some corporate grown-up asked her to.