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May 12, 2013 at 12:27 pm #24325
Mad JackParticipantOkay then, lets start this. But as I already said: I don’t speak English as my native language, so please forgive me if the grammar is sometimes a little bit “off”. Feel free to correct me at any time…
PROLOGUE:
March 21, 1927 – 05:30:00 (UTC-5)
Caral, Peru (124 miles north of Lima in the valley of Rio Supe)Professor Lance Walker, an archaeologist with a penchant for adventures like so many other colleagues of him in this time, lived for several months alone in a camp on the edge of an excavation site, which he had accidentally discovered some time ago and whose age he carefully dated to about 5000 years after some finds dating back to early history – to a period known for some of the most famous centers of origin of human civilization such as Mesopotamia, Egypt and India.
With the help of some locals he had exposed the last of the six shallow pyramidal elevations within an area of more than 60 hectares the day before, the largest of them covering nearly the size of four football fields and being 60 feet tall, and after another long evening of studying the artifacts that he had found he had gone to bed late.
The sun had not yet risen when he was pulled out of the sleep, he had just recently fallen into, by a slight shaking of the earth which was extremely unusual for this area. When he stumbled drowsy out of his tent he saw amazed at how suddenly a huge pillar of light shot up from the largest of the six pyramids several miles into the sky and immediately went out again.
Fascinated by the phenomenon the archaeologist followed it to its source and discovered, between the two 11.5 feet high monoliths of granite at the entrance of the pyramid, an opening in the ground which was not previously available and which also revealed a stone staircase that seemingly led deep below the earth underneath the pyramid.
Armed only with an old Colt .45, which he had pocketed almost unwitting as usual, he curiously descended the stairs and found himself in a vast underground vault a short time later, where he detected Maya symbols on the walls in the dim light of his torch, which were to his amazement sided by more characters of Egyptian hieroglyphs and Norman runes.
Surprised by the unexpected discovery it took him several minutes before he noticed the faint beeping, that seemed to come from the rear of the temple-like space in a steady rhythm. Just then, as he turned to this noise, the room suddenly brightened and gave a glimpse of his inner free, which dealt Walker with a further severe shock.
At the other end of the vault he saw a huge technological apparatus that was – despite its apparent age of several thousand years – set into operation as if by an invisible hand and a bright red light started to flash in its middle in the same rhythm as the now very loud beeping noise.
Although he could not see the purpose of the computer consoles, since such devices were completely unknown in this time, Walker approached them and noticed a glowing screen with symbols unfamiliar to him.
At the very same moment he touched the monitor a loud mechanical voice sounded from hidden speakers in a strange language that seemed to repeat the same phrase over and over again.
“Cor’Ryi Talho Sti Ut! Nii Yaro Sabe.”
“Cor’Ryi Talho Sti Ut! Nii Yaro Sabe.”
“Cor’Ryi Talho Sti Ut! Nii Yaro Sabe.”
“Cor’Ryi Talho Sti Ut! Nii Yaro Sabe.”Startled by the voice the man let out a cry for the first time since he entered the catacombs:
“What the hell is going on here?“The answer came promptly:
“Language recognized as English. Translating…”
“Stellar constellation consistent with calculation detected. Voice input expected…”“What does that mean? Who are you? And what the hell is this?!”
“Answer to question 1: Question redundant, as answered itself by voice input.”
“Answer to question 2: System designation is 5M4R7-455.”
“Answer to question 3: Research facility Cor’Bei.”“I don’t understand a word. Which stellar constellation and what it’s all about?”
“Answer to question 1: Stellar constellation NCC-1701-C marks the time of the original chronal origin of the creators of this unit.”
“Answer to question 2: Stellar constellation NCC-1701-C allows measures to theoretical return the creators of this unit to their original physical origin.”“Chronal origin? I don’t know what that means. And who the heck are these creators?”
“Answer to question 1: Chronal origin: The time from which the creators come.”
“Answer to question 2: The native name of the creators is Mata’Nui.”“Somehow we have not made any progress here. Each of your answers raises new questions for me. Let’s try it a different way: What do you want from me?”
“Subject meets the requirements for Harbinger protocol. Awaiting instructions on how to proceed…”
“Harbinger protocol? What’s that supposed to be now? Explain it to me.”
“Instructions accepted. Explanation will be made by demonstration. Starting procedure…”
“Wait. What? No!”
Before he was able to react to the unexpected response, a man-high glass cylinder lowered with great speed from the ceiling above him, locked him in, and was filled with vapors, letting Walker lose consciousness.
Shortly thereafter, the air around the man began to shimmer, the air pressure in the room dropped rapidly and the lights began to flicker. At the same moment as a high-pitched indefinable screeching started the contours of the man began to blur and suddenly he vanished literally into thin air, leaving behind just a vacuum in the air that dissolved with a strong pressure wave, which in turn shattered the glass cylinder …
(The prologue ends with a time-lapse setting that shows how the excavation site and the camp is covered by sand and soil, until all traces of Lance Walker’s presence were completely destroyed.)
May 13, 2013 at 1:51 pm #24417
Mad JackParticipantHmm, I considered to outsource the storytelling to the writers’ room, but I don’t know which sub-forum to choose there, since it’s a mix of super-hero-, fantasy- and science-fiction. So I’ll keep it here until I know what to do with it. Let’s continue…
CHAPTER ONE:
September 13, 1985 – 22:27:36 CDT (UTC-6)
Houston, Texas (USA) – Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (Mission Control Center)There was a frenzy of activity in the Mission Control Center at NASA, as “Operation Dark Side” entered its second phase. It was the first manned mission to the moon in 13 years and the destination of the expedition was the South Pole-Aitken Basin, a crater with roughly 1,600 miles in dameter and 8.1 miles deep on the far side of the moon.
The mission, in which for the first time in history a person should enter the “dark side of the moon”, was considered a daring venture as this area owed its name to the fact that there were considerable difficulties in signal transmission inside it – a fact known since the flight of the Soviet lunar probe Lunik 3 in 1959 – and therefore it was decided that the mission should be kept secret until its completion.
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Project manager Norris Wyman stared so intently at the radio intercom in front of him, that one could believe he could influence the outcome of this phase, in which the Space Shuttle Prometheus was landing on the lunar surface, by mere wishful thinking when suddenly in the middle of static noise a voice came through the speakers.
“Prometheus calls Houston. Do you read me, Mission Control?”
“Loud and clear Captain Sterling. What is your status?”
“Phase 2 completed. Landing on the surface occured without incident. All values for phase 3 in the green. Ready to exit.”
While a great sigh of relief went through the crowd around him, the facial expression of Commander Wyman relaxed just a little.
“We received the reports of the board sensors only fragmented, but so far everything looks good. Phase 3 is approved …”
A few minutes later, Captain Adam Sterling came back on.
“Exit successful. I’ll proceed toward the target coordinates and call again when I arrived.”
“Be careful. The area is completely unexplored and radio contact can abort at any time. If that happens, return immediately back to the module.”
“Don’t worry, Commander. Friday the 13th has always been my personal lucky day.”
–
After more than thirty minutes without any feedback from Captain Sterling Wyman’s nerves were tense as wire ropes. With sweaty face he turned to the man who monitored the radio traffic.
“What’s going on? He should have reported some fifteen minutes ago.”
“I’m sorry, sir, I still receive no signals from Captain Sterling and the contact to the lunar module is also canceled. We get absolutely nothing anymore.”
“Mission Control to Captain Sterling. Do you read me?”
No answer – only static noise and crackling …
“Damn it. Can anyone tell me what’s going on up there?”
The awkward silence of the ground crew spoke volumes …
–
–December 18, 2012 – 13:18:47 CDT (UTC-6)
Houston, Texas (USA) – Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (Mission Control Center)27 years after the last (inofficial) lunar mission, of which no trace was found by later flights of several probes, a new classified mission called “Operation Torchlight” was started. This time, a team of four astronauts should undertake a new attempt to land on the far side of the moon and at the same time to try and bring light into the darkness of the circumstances sorrounding the disappearance of Captain Adam Sterling and the Space Shuttle Prometheus.
“Altair lunar lander to Mission Control. Houston we have a problem!”
The heartbeat of Project Doyle Hanson sat out for a fraction of a second and with a frightened look he looked at the now-retired Commander Wyman Norris who was present as a guest of honor.
“Mission Control to Captain Brosnan. What happened?”
“Nothing dramatic, I just couldn’t resist.”
“Are you kidding me? You know that I have nothing left for your sense of humor!”
“Sorry, Commander. But we have now arrived at the specified coordinates, and found no traces of the Prometheus. Although we have expected that, we didn’t expect to receive this weird signal here.”
“Weird signal? What do you mean by weird?”
“Our instruments register a weak indefinable radio signal that is displaced by a faint whistling sound, which clearly changes when we turn to the direction of the original mission target.”
Hanson and Wyman exchanged surprised looks.
“Well, it was intended to re-enact the original mission anyway which included a visit to the South Pole-Aitken basin at some point. So I’d say follow the signal …”
“Roger Houston. Proceeding mission as planned.”
–
The relief on the faces of the two Commanders was very visible when twenty minutes later a noisy radio message came in.
“Brosnan to Mission Control. We have reached the target coordinates and are now in a smaller crater on the floor of the basin. The whistle has almost disappeared and the underlying signal has now become a bit little clearer in spite of the strong static noise. It almost sounds as if somebody is speaking and seems to come from a cave on the edge of the crater. I think we should look at this more closely.”
„Copy that Captain Brosnan. Proceed at your own discretion.”
–
–December 18, 2012 – 13:42:16 CDT (UTC-6)
The South Pole-Aitken basin on the Moon.Captain Henry “Hank” Brosnan and his team consisting of Captain Darrell Slater, Lieutenant Susan Richmond and Dr. James Cohen, stood 8 miles deep at the bottom of the basin in front of a towering wall in which they saw an approximately 10 feet high and 7 feet wide opening to a cave that seemed to lead deep under the surface.
“Okay guys, you heard the Commander. Let’s go have a look.”
–
The corridor was sometimes narrower, sometimes wider and led down steadily. When they were about 0.6 miles deep into the cave, the radio contact to earth was lost as expected and after a further 1.2 miles the corridor became so low that they had to stoop to keep moving forward.
In the meantime the signal received from inside the cave had become increasingly stronger and was now clearly recognizable as the voice of a man who spoke in a strange foreign language that was occasionally interrupted by some English words, their context, however, were not recognizable.
After what felt like an eternity they suddenly discovered a light that could by no means been of natural origin so deep under the moon’s surface.
As the astronauts entered the room with the light, they thought they couldn’t believe their eyes. The head-high but very expansive vault which opened to them was covered with steel plates and crammed with machines that resembled no technology they had ever seen on earth.
While they curiously looked at the devices, that obviously had to be of extraterrestrial origin, suddenly the damped and slightly electronically distorted voice of a man came from a remote corner of the room.
“Was about time that you guys showed up here.”
–
Startled by the voice Captain Brosnan wheeled around and saw a man in a strange thin and bright space suit, standing between two glowing tubes and working on two screens that hovered in the air before him and seemed to consist of pure energy.
“What the hell?”
“This has little to do with hell, even if what lies ahead could be quite well described as hell on earth.”
“Who are you? What are you talking about? And what the blazes is this? “
Still paralyzed from shock Lieutenant Richmond began to speak.
“But, sir, don’t you recognize him from the mission briefing? This is Captain Adam Sterling!”
“Captain Sterling? But that can’t be. That was 27 years ago and he doesn’t seem to have aged a day.”
“Thanks for the compliment, Captain Brosnan, but believe me, I surely did age. Just not the way it suits your habits. “
Brosnan turned back toward the futuristic dressed man.
“How is that possible? What happened to you back then and again: What the hell is going on here?”
“I’m sorry if I can’t provide explanations to you at the moment, but there is simply no time for that here and now. The Harvesters are coming and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. No one can stop them and the following events, but we can still save the future of the mankind, if we find the Walker.”
“The Harvesters? The Walker? The future of mankind? What are you talking about, man?”
“Hmm. I guess I’m wasting my time with you. What was the saying again? Oh yes: Take me to your leader …”
May 14, 2013 at 1:45 am #24455
Herr DParticipantEven with the mix you describe, I’d suggest Sci-Fi section in the Writer’s Forum. Traditionally Sci-Fi collections are more likely to accept heavily genre-mixed writing than any other venue does.
May 15, 2013 at 5:42 am #24531
Mad JackParticipantFollowing Herr D’s advice I put the story in the sci-fi section of the writers’ room – so please go there to read on (as soon as I got time to continue it)…
Now I got a question regarding the copyright-rules: I did a couple of marvel-dc-amalgated heroes for fun a little while ago, that didn’t exist (in this form) in the original amalgam-universe. Is it allowed to post them here, or would that be against the rules as well? Just asking…
May 15, 2013 at 5:45 am #24533
prswirveParticipantHmm i dunno but maybe if you won’t mention any copyrighted names…..
May 15, 2013 at 6:56 am #24534
JR19759Keymaster@madjack said:
Now I got a question regarding the copyright-rules: I did a couple of marvel-dc-amalgated heroes for fun a little while ago, that didn’t exist (in this form) in the original amalgam-universe. Is it allowed to post them here, or would that be against the rules as well? Just asking…
As long as you don’t mention copyright names and the characters don’t look too similar to any copyrighted characters (no ‘S’ logos or stuff like that) then I’m sure its ok, I mean Jeff did once do an amalgam contest on the blog. Though you might want to ask Kaldath just to make sure.
May 15, 2013 at 8:43 am #24535
Mad JackParticipant@JR19759 said:
… and the characters don’t look too similar to any copyrighted charactersWell, I guess since they’re amalgams of copyrighted characters there would of course be similarities to them, don’t you think? That’s why I’m asking first. And as for the names – what do you think the name of an amalgam of Billy Batson and Mar’Vell for example would be?
Personally I think it’s okay, since it’s not much different than that old character contest that involved creating characters who were the sons/daughters of existing comic book heroes mentioned by DiCicatriz in his topic, but yes, I think I’ll follow your advice and ask a moderator first.
May 15, 2013 at 9:40 am #24539
prswirveParticipantMaybe just leave it to the audience to judge by themselves but never mention their names or put distinguishable symbols. Also, JR is a moderator now, too.
May 15, 2013 at 11:21 am #24546
WeilynMemberSorry, no characters from copyrighted universes, even amalgamated ones. I believe the rules have changed since the contest you mentioned.
May 15, 2013 at 12:06 pm #24550
KaldathKeymasterThe rule is No Copyrighted characters period, no characters even original works from a copyrighted setting, such as Marvel or DC’s worlds unless those settings have an Officially Licensed Role-Playing Game, but it most be clearly stated they are a RPG character and from what game in the post that the character is posted in. After my recent conversation with Jeff he is allowing Children of characters from character within the SAME settings so long as they are RPG characters and of course original concepts obviously you can’t decide to create a character that is the daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey and name her Rachael Summers for example. This new addition is subject to change should any legal action be taken against this site for it
May 15, 2013 at 2:28 pm #24545
Mad JackParticipant@prswirve said:
Also, JR is a moderator now, too.[/img]Oops – didn’t see that. Mea culpa…
@Kaldath said:
The rule is No Copyrighted characters period,So – no Amalgams then. Okay, no problem – I’ll stick to my own characters. They are better anyway! :p
And with that said I give you the Dorbug – my first try of shading a little bit. But I think that’s not really my scene…
DORBUG
No story for him yet – just some superpowers: Teleportation, flight and some sort of computer-telepathy…Headshot:
May 18, 2013 at 11:55 am #24738
Mad JackParticipantI’ve noticed that I don’t have many female superheroes in my repertoire. So I decided it’s time for some girl power.
PANDORA BLACK
Pandora Black: Gun for HireBorn as the daughter of two Marines, Pandora seemed to be destined for the military service. But with time it turned out that she has great authority problems and after some (physical) clashes with superiors, she was eventually dishonorably discharged from the army. Pandora was already an exceptional sharpshooter before her Xenogene was avitated during the “Awakening” event which provided her with the gift of perfect aim.
The Xenogene increased the number of rod cells in her retinas while decreasing the cone cells at the same time, which resulted in vastly heightening her visual acuity and contrast. Concurrently she gained enhanced muscles around her eyes increasing her ability to change focal length through orb distortion.
Due to these improvements Pandora is now capable to hit any and every target with a complete and utter accuracy that borders on the uncanny. Once focused on a target it’s virtually impossible for her to miss – regardless of the weapon she uses. See was seen to lacerate a person’s throat with a thrown dvd, spit a chewing gum through a human eye and to pierce a mans’ heart with a toothpick thrown from a hundred yards away.
As a result of the her military training and her enhanced hand-eye coordination, Pandora can quickly learn how to wield most weapons even if she’s never seen them before. Aside from any sort of guns she is also skilled with knives, swords, and other weapons.
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PS: I continued my story in the writers’ room – so have a look if you want…
May 19, 2013 at 3:56 pm #24820
Mad JackParticipantCOPYCAT
Copycat – Kathryn DrydenBorn with an IQ of 143 and an eidetic memory Katrhyn excelled in every field of study at Harvard University, but was despised by her fellow students with envy and resentment. When her Xenogene was activated during the “Awakening” event she finally got the opportunity to get back at all who had ever treated her poorly.
The Xenogene intensified her gift to the extreme giving her photographic reflexes in addition to a now vastly increased eidetic memory. She has not only the ability to acquire the knowledge and skills of other people – eg medical knowledge or enginering skills – in the shortest time by mere observation and implement themselves, but also the capability of perfectly duplicating any physical movement/action after watching it only once, including acrobatics, martial arts, and other physical stunts.
Due to these reflexes, she can do things which border on superpowers, like duplicating the moves of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan at a greatly increased velocity by watching a movie on fast-forward and even copy the subtle muscle movements of others so precisely that she can copy another persons voice so precisely as to fool voice recognition software.
Kathryn is considered to be the most dangerous and lethal fighter on the planet, since she is able to combine the combat techniques of several martial arts disciplines which she is proficient in, including but not limited to the art of Boxing, Muay Thai, Capoeira, Krav Maga, Hapkaido, Kung Fu, Savate, Judo, Aikido, Jujutsu, Wing Chun and Tae Kwon Do.
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May 21, 2013 at 1:05 pm #24969
Mad JackParticipantHEMOGOBLIN
Adkar aka “Adrian Karan”Snatched from his home-dimension of “H’elio” by a time and space rift accidentally created by Trailblazer during the “Days of Annihilation”, Adkar first lied low and lived as Adrian Karan disguising himself to appear human. But after studying the human pop culture for several months he realized that in these modern times demons and devils would rather be treated like celebrities than feared for what they are and decided to become a famous rockstar, letting his fans in the goth and heavy metal scene believe his appearance was just a fancy masquerade for the show.
Just a few people outside of the superhero world know what he really is and those would never talk, since Adkar can fulfill all your wishes with his vast magical powers – if you’re willing to pay the price. It isn’t easy to pin him down as good or bad, due to his ambivalent character. Sometimes he helps the heroes and sometimes the villains – that seems to depend on what’s in it for him…
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May 21, 2013 at 1:15 pm #24973
WeilynMemberAwesome!
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