WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD - Mod Plot

[letsgolegion]

Plot is up!

WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD

NETWORK POST

THE BASICS

Synopsis: Galactus the Devourer of Worlds has come through the dimensional rift and destroyed the outpost orbiting Phelolu, the world where new characters appear. Now, he has his sights set on the planet Braal, a world full of heavily-populated industrialized cities packed full of native Braalians and Xanthan refugees. After that? The UP is a veritable smorgasbord of civilized worlds, all packed closely together like a buffet table.

Galactus is a cosmic being akin to a force of nature, imbued with the power cosmic, a godlike source of power that can allow him to destroy whole planets with a single blast.

He cannot be defeated by force alone.

Galactus' Heralds: Galactus is served by two heralds who find worlds for him to eat, the Silver Surfer, and Stardust. The Silver Surfer is very empathetic towards sentient life and wishes he didn't have to serve Galactus but is bound to his master by Galactus' cosmic power. Where he can, he tries to help spare life, sometimes by delaying or redirecting his master to worlds without sentient life.

However, Stardust finds it to be an honor to serve Galactus and does her duties with religious fervor. She sees being devoured by him as a great honor and kills any people who try to escape the planets her master feeds on. As long as she serves Galactus, the Silver Surfer can't do anything to soften the damage his master does.

Both of the heralds are imbued with a fraction of the power cosmic, making them nearly invincible. However, they are weaker than their master, and it would be possible to potentially find the means to destroy one or both of them. That said, it would only cause them to disperse and they could still eventually reform -- but that would take some time.

So are the mods going to tell us how the characters can stop Galactus?

You get to decide! The mods will give you several possibilities, but the characters and players will have to decide on the ultimate plan and you can potentially come up with a plan that the mods haven't thought of. If we feel it's viable, we'll allow it to work.

Possible options:

✦ Destroying Stardust and finding a way to contain her energies or trap her in another dimension to bargain with the more sympathetic Silver surfer to redirect Galactus to uninhabited worlds, leaving him an unfortunate permanent fixture in the Legion's universe but at least one that only eats worlds with no sentients
✦ Finding a technological means to sate Galactus' hunger for a cosmically long period of time
✦ Displacing Galactus to a dimension full of pure energy and no sentient life to feast on
✦ Freeing the Spectre, the spirit of God's Vengeance from his magical prison, so that he bounces Galactus out of the universe -- an act that would leave the Spectre free in the universe once more but prevent Galactus from being able to feed on worlds
✦ Returning Galactus to the Marvel Universe and making it their problem because they're at least used to it
✦ A combination of some the above! Perhaps sating his hunger and sending him back to Marvel? Destroying Stardust and trapping her as energy and tricking Silver Surfer into leading Galactus into a dimensional trap?
✦ Wild card! Have an idea? You can suggest it in the comments below and we'll work with you to see if an option Z is a possibility!


PARTS OF THE PLOT

Three separate parts of the plot will run simultaneously, three major tasks the Legion will have to do to handle the crisis.

Part 1: Harrow

A parasitic threat called Harrow that's riding along in Galactus' ship is attacking Braal. Harrow is able to psionically possess people down on planets that Galactus feeds from, skipping from person to person and using host bodies to mass murder people. After receiving a panicked call from the Science Police on Braal, the Legionnaires will have to find a way to stop Harrow in his murderous rampage.

Max # of characters: 5 characters

Part 2: The Military

Ignoring the Legion's warnings, the UP council will send an armada to face Galactus. The Legion must find a way to waylay them so that they aren't massacred by Galactus.

Max # of characters: 5 characters

Part 3: The Heralds

The Legionnaires must face down Galactus' heralds, employing whatever plan they've decided, whether that's destroying them to make them temporarily dissipate, or trying to talk them into leading Galactus somewhere.

Max # of characters: 10 characters (A max of 5 will face each herald).

After this first stage of a the plot, a second one will take place where they employ their final plan against Galactus, and the cause of the characters being brought to the game universe will be revealed!


PLOT FAQ

Can we suggest different tasks other than the main three tasks?

Yes! If you have an idea for another, there will be a space to ask for it in the comments.

Can I sign up a character for more than one task?

No, the tasks are meant to accommodate the whole game, so each character can only choose one part to participate in.

What happens if too many people sign up for a task?

If people don't split evenly naturally, we ask that players sign up for what they're most interested in. We'll RNG participants for that part and then ask players that don't get RNGed for that part what their second choice is.

All three tasks will take place in settings where all the character's powers should be useful. The confrontation with the heralds, for instance, will take place on Braal itself. The confrontation with the military will likely involve being in space and going onto the admiral's ship. The confrontation with Harrow will happen on Braal and possibly involve sneaking on Galactus' ship.

How do we decide on a solution to stop Galactus?

You can use this ooc post to discuss it with your fellow players and characters can ICly discuss a solution in the network post. Rich Rider will provide basic IC info on Galactus and his heralds that the characters can use to make their decisions and the Legion npcs will be soliciting the PCs opinions on possible solutions. They'll choose whatever idea seems to have consensus.

Can I opt out with a character?

Yes. This is meant to be a very wide-reaching gameiwde event but Legion World itself will be very busy reacting to the crisis. If you want a character to not icly participate, you can handwave that they'd be performing important functions helping on Legion World. Legionnaires often help out with things like coordination efforts in the Mission Monitor Room while other Legionnaires are in the field.

Where can I sign up?

We're going to set up signups and provide plotting posts for the three parts of the plot once the characters decide on their solution to defeat Galactus on the network, and after discussion in this post, in case new parts are added to the plot. Keep an eye out for a separate post for signups!


You can discuss the plot and ask questions in the comments below. Please wait until all headers are up.

Comments

STOPPING GALACTUS - DISCUSSION

[letsgolegion]

This where players can oocly discuss a possible solution together!

[ringslinging]

Okay, I have some bias because Reasons, but I really like the idea of siccing the Spectre on him. And this is, ICly, something that Hal could reasonably come up with, since he's pretty fresh out of Blackest Night when they sicced him on Nekron.

I also generally like the idea of some combination of solutions just because more fun for everyone, but that's the one I'd most love to see play into things somehow. :|a

[iamresponding]

I will admit I'm kind of a fan because then we can have some kind of little magical trial they have to do. And then we can throw a giant magical man at giant cosmic man and that'd be pretty cool. And then the in future they might have to deal with the Spectre in a plot.

But since I'm a mod I'm basically open to like what the majority decides and my vote technically isn't gonna count.

[ringslinging]

Yeah, the possibility of having to deal with him later also appeals, ngl.

[iamresponding]

Yeah, and I mean we could always drop him into a plot later if we opt not to go wit it, but doing it this way means they'd make a decision that has a direct long-term consequence on the game world that they have to deal with later.

So if you want to do something where it has a consequence and then play with that consequence later in the game, we'd definitely follow up later.

[deafleppard]

I would just like to +1 the idea of using Spectre. And the option of sending him to another dimension altogether.

[iamresponding]

You know I'm kinda thinking we could maybe combine the Spectre and fighting Stardust like Luis suggested below. A mishmash of a few suggestions.

What if they do the following?

- have a team find the spectre and set things up to unleash him in a place away from braal
- Use the threshold gates and the star like a canon, like Platinum suggested, to briefly mess up Galactus' ship to distract him for a moment
- destroy/dissipate Stardust during that moment while his attention is averted (she won't be dead dead but that frees them to...)
- convince Silver Surfer to lead Galactus away to a world they claim is full of yummy life but without sentients
- Boom, no, it's a trap just to lead him away from Braal. Galactus, meet Spectre. Spectre, meet Galactus.

It'd make sense that they might need to get Surfer to lead the big guy away from the planet for that, so they could still need to fight Stardust like Luis suggested. Then the Spectre bounces him out of the universe. And the reformulating remains of Stardust for good measure.

[fourstars]

I imagine in that case that they'd need four teams to be able to coordinate this. One team to fight Stardust, another team to track the Surfer and be ready to negotiate, a third team to protect the T-gate cannon if it comes to it, and a fourth team to locate and prep the Spectre.

[iamresponding]

I definitely feel like a team fighting Stardust, a team taking care of Surfer, and a team to free the Spectre would work, because they'd all have something meaty to do. Anyone guarding the T-gate cannon wouldn't really have much to do, so we might wanna relegate that to the npcs (and/or let one of the gearheads handle it if they'd like to) and make sure all the other characters are on tasks that have some events happening to them.

[fourstars]

I am down with this.

(Although I will say that Gohan is Not Okay with the Spectre at all, and I'm looking for a place to have Gohan voice just that.)

[iamresponding]

I think once the game has an ic/ooc consensus, they can narrow down and discuss whatever the main choice is, and characters that dislike it will have a chance to voice that.

[sir_vancelot]

If it helps, at least Gohan will have Vance on his side on that.

[ringslinging]

I like this combo. Draws on everything that's been brought up so far, gives a lot of things to do.

[deafleppard]

I like the ideas, it's a combination of viable options all in one plan.

[fourstars]

I like the idea of fighting Stardust and using her defeat as a way to barter with the Silver Surfer. Then again, Gohan's a very punchy punchy fight-fight guy, so of course I like that one.

Also, another thing I keep thinking of that I don't see anyone talk about. What about taking out Galactus' ship? Like, without it, wouldn't he just... float there?

[iamresponding]

With his ship, the only problem is that's where Galactus is. They'll have a chance with his heralds because they'll be away from dad, so to speak, but the closer you get to Galactus the more likely he notices you, the more likely he zaps you, hence why a direct fight would be near impossible.

However, if they did still found SOME way, somehow (which, if you guys get creative, we'll allow) he'd be able to reform it fairly easily. That said, since he uses it as a tool to feed it'd be a good potential delaying/distraction tactic.

They could potentially do it but they'd have to get a little creative with creating something that could actually damage it and somehow delivering the payload before he has a chance to notice and react.

[kingtyrantranger]

I'd suggest taking a pair of threshold gates and dunking one of them into a sun to create a solar cannon of some kind. That wouldn't hurt Galactus much, but it might trash his ship.

Downside: It would catch his attention.

[iamresponding]

...We'll allow it.

It would attract his attention, though, so it'd have to be done at a time where that was maybe okay. But that sounds doable as far as damaging/destroying his ship, at least until he rebuilt it. They'd probably only get one or two shots though.

[kingtyrantranger]

To answer your second question, Galactus is capable of propelling himself through space without the ship. It just requires less energy to use it.

[notwithoutafight]

'What Galactus eats' has kinda been rolling around in the threads I've read/tagged this afternoon and I'm wondering if there's something to explore there.

... And after looking up at this post, I see that there's kind of an option like that: moving Galactus into a dimension of pure energy without sentient life and I guess just letting him live out his happy eternity doing whatever the fuck beings like Galactus do.


I think other people in this post are talking about something similar....

[kingtyrantranger]

Galactus actually devours the energy of planets. He doesn't require life at all, actually, but planets with life do offer him more sustenance than dead planets. What decides the planets he chooses vary from writer to writer. When push comes to shove, he can, and has, eaten suns. But he prefers not to.

You see, it's not about keeping Galactus alive. He would actually happily starve to death. He despises what he is, but has had countless years to come to terms with it. However, his importance is absolute, equal to Death and Eternity. When this universe ends, Galactus will tear himself open and unleash all of the energies he's gathered throughout the eternity that he's lived and cause the next Big Bang, creating the next universe so that reality can continue to exist. He knows this.

Galactus was once a human scientist named Galen. Galen of Taa. When his universe was ending, he and three friends went out into the unknown, to challenge the fantastic. They were bombarded with cosmic energies and only he survived. The universe collapsed around him, forming a cosmic egg, where he incubated for countless eternities until the Big Bang occurred and the current universe was born anew. He hatched as Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, and immediately set out to accomplish his mission: To save up enough energies to give birth to a new universe, rather than let it end once and for all.

[notwithoutafight]

Huh. Well that... really blows for that guy.

But thank you for this explanation, it's incredibly helpful!

[kingtyrantranger]

No problem at all! I'm good for an infodump whenever.

STOPPING GALACTUS - MOD QUESTIONS

[letsgolegion]

You can ask the mods questions about a possible solution to stop Galactus here.

PART 1: HARROW - MOD QUESTIONS

[letsgolegion]

You can ask the mods questions about the Harrow part of the plot here.

PART 2: THE MILITARY - MOD QUESTIONS

[letsgolegion]

You can ask the mods questions about the military part of the plot here.

PART 3: THE HERALDS - MOD QUESTIONS

[letsgolegion]

You can ask the mods questions about the heralds part of the plot here.

NEW TASK SUGGESTIONS

[letsgolegion]

If you have a suggestion for a task to add to the plot alongside the other 3, you can suggest it here and the mods will work with you to see if it can be added to the plot.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

[letsgolegion]

Have any questions that don't fit anywhere else? Ask here!