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"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger." -Friedrich Nietzsche
It is combat that makes me think of philosophy, sometimes. Tonight, I was thinking about Nietzsche.
Perhaps, I should have been more empathetic or situationally aware. Here we were, invading the heart of Atlas Park. Here I was planting an Archanos flag in dying form of Mrs. Lib.
After all, Mrs. Lib wasn't thinking about anything other than the steel flagpole buried in her dying gut. You only had to twist the metal and hear the screams to know that it was foremost on her mind.
I could have cared. Then again, feeling sorry for Mrs. Lib would be forgetting her part in several cover-ups for a little company called Portal Corp. Feeling sorry would be ignoring the damage thus caused by the alien Rikti invasion. Feeling sorry would mean looking the other way to the obvious moves of a false god that used to call himself Zeus. Feeling sorry meant falling for the lies of those pulling puppet strings.
I didn't feel sorry. I twisted the flag again. Lib screamed.
In moments, she'd die. Soon there after, the fake hospitals would magically awaken another clone and download the memories into a fresh body. The media would say she had survived and pulled through. More lies, it was just more crap about a fake amusement park world we don't live in.
That wouldn't be the point though. In the distance, a teammate named Karl was crushing cars like Styrofoam cups. Another teammate named Autonomous loudly moved a robot army to smash an entire police roadblock. Another teammate named Katarn watch everything from the shadows waiting to give a signal that it would be time to move. More teammates and other famous Archanos allied groups moved in the distance.
The point is taken from a false god. The Statesman, "Zeus", made loud messes and the people followed.
Ours would do the same. The media and the police couldn't cover up what we were doing tonight. Their specialists would need to be recloned and we'd fill the hospitals beyond their respawn capacity. Tonight would make the papers, the Blogs, and the airways long before the spin doctors could try damage control.
Our mission would be simple. We'd hit them. We'd notify them with the body of one of their sacred, fascist poster children. Then, we'd notify them of the next phase.
I dropped a simple business card on Lib's corpse. It read, "October 18th, Siren's Call, 9 to 11 pm Eastern." Hundreds of other such cards would litter Paragon city on hundreds of other corpses.
Katarn gave the signal. We began to vanish out.
The media had the bone. The so called Heroes would know we were coming. Our fellow Rogue Islanders would know we'd be there as well.
Karl's words from before the mission rang in my head again. He had asked, "Why freaking tell them you're coming at all."
The answer was simple. If I'd been a puppet in their shoes, I wouldn't want to go out without a fight. It was a do unto others thing, I guess.
Karl had laughed, sneering that they'd be fighting the Jell-O instead. Fighting for profit, like that fake hero Captain Amazing from his favorite hero movie, "The Mystery Men".
The answer was still simple. In the end, we'd know if any of them were real heroes anyway.
Just as we would know if any of the rest of the Rogue Islands really wanted to fight for their freedom. The shot heard round the world had been fired. How many of our fellows would have the guts to stand with us?
The end days were coming. Lord Recluse had stated he'd have the forces ready to take the new dimension called RV within a month or so.
It was time to prepare both sides for that war. The plans battles were even chosen on a symbolic and mytical end.
We would kill the fake gods on Odin's Day, "Wednesday". Even prickly Karl had liked that irony.
I listened to the various media feeds as I switched between radio channels. The media was already reporting that the cards had read, "October 18th, Siren's Call, 9 to 11 pm Eastern."
The first battle of the war would soon be a reality. Lord Recluse would be pleased. The grand plan was now in motion.
There would be good people on both sides that would die from this. But, there were crimes against humanity that those in power had to pay for. The future of Paragon City would soon be decided.
The screams would rise up like an apocalyptic chorus soon. It was enough to unnerve most.
So here I was, thinking about Nietzsche...
Looks like we launched this in October of 2006. I'll be filling this in as I can find the old work on it.
Internal Memo worth sharing from back in the day
PVP Roster, revised 29 Nov 2006
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Team One Leader: SGT Chaos
Team One Alt: Tiny Dude
Team One <Masterminds, Dominators, and Corruptors>: Mistress Chrome (R / FF MM *buffer* {Ummagumma}), Evil Snix (Robots / Poison MM {Snix}), Tiny Dude (Grav /Psi Dom {Kayte}), SGT Chaos (Merc / FF MM *buffer* {Torel}), Doctor Bisquitize (Fire / Thermal Corrupter *buffer* {Archturus}) 5 of 8
Room for 3 players, we are looking for more players who are good FF masterminds at 40th level plus. This squad is designed with 3 FF masterminds in mind with Detention Fields to trap heroes, as well as, bubbles to de-toggle and cover everyone.
This spread gives us a possible minion count 21, for 21 targets for heroes to have to target sort through with squad one alone. That increases by 7 for every extra MM.
Rushing to join us next week or the week after is:
1. Neveah (Rad / Thermal *buffer* {Neveah}), she has 8 levels to go
2. Dom (Thugs / FF MM {Dom}) who has 28 levels to go
3. Untamed Shrew (Spines / SR Stalker {Marjai}), she has .3 levels to go Shrew is being added for extra protection for the MM team and it's buffers
Group waypoint center: SGT Chaos
---------------------
Team Two Leader: Katarn
Team Two Alt: Assassin Nova
Team Two <Stalkers>: Katarn (Energy / Ninjitsu Stalker {Megahurtz}), Mujen (Stalker {Mujen}), Assassin Nova (Stalker {Nova}) 3 of 8
Room for 5 players
Rushing to join is:
1. Robo Cryptic (Energy / Ninjitsu Stalker {Cryptic}), who has 6 levels to go
Group waypoint center: Katarn
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Team Three Leader: Rod Steele
Team Three Alt: Karl Revok
Team Three <Brutes and Corrupters>: Karl Revok (SS / Inv Brute {Karl}), Rod Steele (SS / Energy Brute {Squidlington}), Laylyn (Rad /Thermal Corrupter *buffer* {Laylyn}), Zachary Stravinsky (AR / Kin Corrupter *buffer* {Eliv}) 4 of 8
Room for 4 players
Rushing to join is:
1. Nyx Erebus (Energy / Electrical Brute {Blackessence}), he has 6 levels to go
2. Kryon (Brute {Kryon}), who has 12 levels to go
3. Erwynn (SS / Energy Brute {Erwynner}), she has 8 levels to go
Group waypoint center: Rod Steele
----------------------------
Allied team 4
Team: Caustic Mime - Strike Force Theta <former BOP> (Ice / Rad), Glowworm <former BOP> - Strike Force Theta (Ice Rad), Shadow Focus - Strike Force Theta <former BOP> (on a corrupter alt), Southern - HAUNT (Dark / Kin)
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Other Allied groups:
Strike Force Theta is expected to bring at least 4, mainly thanks to recruiting efforts by Caustic Mime. Most of these might be in the corrupter team.
Southern has been working on 5 smaller SVGs, such as South Of Heaven and Cult of the Unseeing Eye, (i.e. 9 or more).
Order 66 has agreed to make a event recruiting post on their forums. They might have 1-2 members show again.
Katarn successfully brought over the Cheap Beer Drinkers. They're promising 2-4. Their leader is willing to integrate what we need to fight and they have several toons each.
Psychosis has stated there might be two corrupters interested in RV. We'll integrate them with us again.
Laureth is expected to bring 1 - 3 villain friends. This might pan out to be more.
Johnny B of BOP plans on bringing out more numbers. I'm expecting at least 2.
Lord Martok of Sin has been showing up consistently. I'm expecting 2 more from that group.
Dark might show up again. With luck, they won't.
I'm checking with other villain groups for more fighters. I'm estimating 20 to 40 villains out of the gate for Wednesday. The numbers should build from there. We're probably looking at 4 - 5 organized villain squads total.
Even with all of these possible people, even on the best day, our villain numbers will probably never exceed 60 villains total in the zone, on any given week. Keep in mind most guilds only have 1-4 members interested in PVP.
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Fighting concepts for RV: Stay Alert. Stay Centered. Hit hard as units. Keep Moving. Avoid deathtraps.
Break down:
The MM squad is the offense / defense center group. All pick ups are advised to waypoint their group leaders.
All other squads are advised to fast attack. If a mass hero attack happens, we re-center on the MM group and react from there.
Like air combat, we can't hover at one point. We do our best constantly being in motion. It makes it hard on our enemies and gives us momentum to hit them with.
The easiest way to do this is to continue hitting pill boxes. Our plan is to keep in motion the entire 2 hours of the event and maintain control of the zone.
We don't need to control the last box for the zone. The one we will avoid is the one right next to the hero base. (Alpha) It's in a bad tactical spot for us and there is no point walking into ambushes Heroes can zerg from. (Alpha) needs to be a no man's land. We'll worry about the rest of the board.
Completely chaotic, unorganized villain teams are more than welcome to camp pillboxes and use the turrets. In that case, they'll be there to slow down the enemy. Our objective will be find and crush hero units.
If you need to, remember to use the base if you die. It lets you restock your greens, blues, and break frees.
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Back to HAUNT
Variable teammates and standby fill ins:
1. Fi-dolla (Mantis Thug / Traps MM, on leave for 7 month Navy cruise {Mantis})
2. Darkheart (Dark / Thermal Corrupter level 46, has odd hours due to living and working in Hawaii),
3. Skeeter (SS/ Inv Brute, on leave while fiancée moves up and gets settled),
4. Irradiator (Rad / Rad Corrupter {Need'a'Bone}),
5. Jungto (Corrupter, on leave for work),
6. Kazen or Ruby (EM / Reg Stalker {Kaven})
6 total on standby, 7 others noted in grind up, Room for 12 players above
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The official kick off time is every Wednesday 9 PM Eastern. We will need everyone form up into their PVP groups 15 minutes prior to the start of battle.
Members are expected to be on time and formed up into their teams. If a team leader is absent, for any reason, the team alt is expected to form up and lead the group. If the both are missing, any HAUNT officer present in that team is expected to form that team up and lead.
The teams are officially on duty for 2 hours (9 PM to 11 PM). Once again, we will form up in our PVP groups, 15 minutes prior to going into RV, quitting for the night for any reason is grounds for being benched, by me, from the PVP team.
Make sure you make us aware of any work, family, or school obligations that might affect your ability to be on time or there at all. I'm already aware of most of your current situations and those are understood.
It would also be highly appreciated for people to continue to aid people in grinding up ASAP on the listed toons. Further, it would be great if we could donate any excessive Infamy to those in need so that the PVP teams are as strong as possible. It is also encouraged for people to start aiding the team toons to grind up Accolade badges for use in Recluse's Victory.
/salute
P.S. HAUNT is keeping an eye out for 2-3 more PVP thermals. They do not have to be part of the guild. They just have to be willing to integrate into teams.
P.S.S. Once Erwynn and Nyx join the brute squad we'll have 4 power sinkers in accordence with the combined PS / Sonic proposal.
Messages to allies and adversaries
Dear Bane of Prometheus,
As promised, the hornet's nest should be stirred. Personal invites to a few more fighters on both sides have been presented via COV forum email and their respective websites.
You can find and respond to the main thread here:
The dogs of war should be let loose shortly in weekly increasing numbers. I think we'll have a consistent PVP war game on our hands shortly. =)
Due to the fact that this may result in a heavily hero balanced showing, any other allies for the Villain side are also invited. We have a server to conquer.
/salute
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Dear Twilight Avengers,
As my favorite adversaries, you are hereby properly invited. The main thread for this is located here:
I wanted to give you the chance to publicly flex your TA pride. Further, I'm hoping to craft this into something that your fellow Guardian hero SGs might begin teaming to help out with. I'm seeing it as a win / win for both sides of the server.
We are scheduling a weekly event from this point forth to keep edging up the numbers on both sides. With a little creativity we're hoping to craft something that everyone can not only be happy with, but be proud of. I hope you can attend.
This might as well be epic. Guardian is overdue for a real Hero / Villain war.
/salute
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You and your favorite teammates are personally invited to the event posted here:
We are scheduling a weekly event from this point forth to keep edging up the numbers on both sides. With a little creativity we're hoping to craft something that everyone can not only be happy with, but be proud of. I hope you can attend.
-----------
This has been poisted on the Guardian forums here:
Feel free to chime in, but keep it professional. I've notified our allies and our enemies that we're about to stir the pot. Thus I've told them, "We are scheduling a weekly event from this point forth to keep edging up the numbers on both sides. With a little creativity we're hoping to craft something that everyone can not only be happy with, but be proud of. I hope you can attend."
This might end up lop sided on the Hero's side for a bit, but it should be the beginning of actually energized PVP on Guardian, on a war like scale.
It's about to be a wild ride.
12/12/2006
I'd like to say great job to the heroes and villains out there tonight.
I won't list off any specific groups, after all, the sky and the ground
was lit with orange.
The title of Rogue Islander or Protector of Paragon had not mattered
tonight. It was Warburg, the realm of madness.
It was a nice job in the Red Kryptonite zone. The battles were fast
and furious. The dimension was unforgiving.
As promised here are the pics: http://ghost-pa.com/?sample=no&page=31
If you didn't catch the video chosen for tonight's event it can be
found here:
If you have any questions or are new to the Guardian War, the main
thread can be found here: http://boards.cityofvillains.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=6702074&an=0&page=2#Post6702074
Next week, we head back to RV. The story update will be up in a minute.
4/16/2007
Note to the PVPEC reps and volunteers gathering for the Event on Test:
