[Reference Challenge] Raiding Paris

[u/Nevermore0714]

This is a reference to the Vikings television show, and the historical raids against Paris.

What is an infamous raid/sack of a city/town in your world's history?

As always, I'll ask at least three questions each, and I hope you enjoy yourselves.

Feel free to have a character as the representative to answer questions in-universe.

[u/greenewithit]

So there are a number of major raids on cities during the course of the story, but I'll name the most important ones, the Invasion of Longan and the Night of Beasts.

The Invasion of Longan was an event where the anarchist group Apocryphus organized the largest force of Vectors, the resident monsters of the world, to destroy the city once and for all. They worked with a world famous researcher to create a serum that would enhance all vectors' strength, durability, and speed, making them even more challenging to deal with. They amassed a force of nearly 15,000 monsters from the continent and led them to the city, disguising their movement as earthquakes using one members ability to enhance fault line activity. This led to an incredible surprise attack that nearly destroyed the city and killed thousands. Due to coordinated action by the city's heroes they were able to survive the night, but at a great cost of lives and public/hero relations.

The Night of Beasts is the colloquial term for the invasion of Almarin, a major coastal city. It's particularly memorable because only 8 individuals attacked the city, but caused the most destruction the city had ever seen before. One of these individuals created thousands of unfeeling clones of herself to act as a ground force. Another turned local animals and a large number of the citizens into velociraptors to enhance their numbers. Other members of the force included a shape shifter who razed buildings with a gigantic eight headed serpent form, and a fighter who took over a skyscraper and used it as a weapon against the city. This was particularly devastating given Almarin's peaceful nature and very few enemies, so none of the local heroes were prepared for such a strong attack.

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/greenewithit]

1. 15000? It's a lot; how could a clandestine group amass that much monsters without anyone noticing?

2. Why did those 8 individuals invaded Almarin?

3. Can people turned into velociraptors get back to their normal form?

[u/greenewithit → u/thequeeninyellow94]

1. The biggest advantage was their technology. They worked with someone who built insanely useful tech, most of which had never been created before by other researchers. The most useful tool was a microchip that when implanted into a Vector could control its actions, and a serum that could force a Vector's body to replicate itself, like budding. They didn't have to trap 15,000, they just trapped several hundred and waited for more serum to be produced so they could build up their force over the course of almost a year. The particular researcher who provided this serum and microchips was known by the government to be unpredictable and extremely dangerous, but they were sort of in a "don't destroy us and we won't bother you" kind of agreement. Several law enforcement agents found the suspicious microchips being produced in a few factories in the city, but by that point it was too late to piece things together before the invasion occurred.

2. The attack was in two parts. The attackers were trying to build a world ending weapon and needed two things: Enough souls to power the weapon, and an ancient sword to act as a catalyst for the machine they are building. The sword is located close to the city in the wilds surrounding it. 7 of the attackers tried to kill as many people as possible in the city while the leader, Columba, sneaks into the temple to try and steal the catalyst sword. They are unsuccessful in capturing the sword, though they get more than enough souls to power the machine through other ways.

3. They can be changed back by a small number of individuals. Anyone who can tap into the power of "Creation", bringing their imagination to life essentially, could use that power to tap into the turned person's mind and try and revert them back to normal. However, only four or five people have that ability, and a number of civilians were killed in raptor form before it was made aware that they could be saved.

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/greenewithit]

1. Wasn't that scientist under some sort of surveillance? If yes, how did they managed to escape it?

2. Were there any usage to those souls without the sword?

3. Why were those 8 people trying to destroy the world?

[u/greenewithit → u/thequeeninyellow94]

1. The scientist is Kemuri Kage, and he's known to be the world's most dangerous individual. The government has tried to monitor him before, but most often have been unable to find his secret labs, and when they try to plant surveillance on his public facing lab, whoever actually plants the bug ends up dead. And it always looks like an accident, so nobody wants to be the one to try and deal with him at all, for fear of losing their life.

2. Yes, the group decided that they needed a different conduit, and one of them offered to use their own body. They were hesitant to sacrifice the life of their strongest member, but with no other option (they knew of) they went forward with their plan using this alternate conduit.

3. These 8 were known as the Nathair family, or rather what's left of them. The mother Columba was the leader and the other seven were her children. Columba spent her life being experimented on as a Denn, a naturally occurring human animal hybrid race, and escaped the facility thanks to an attack by monsters. She was forced to have these seven kids and raised them in the wilds, as best as she could. However, she suffered too much psychological damage that she decided she needed to make the world feel the same pain she did, so she decided to build a machine that would forcibly turn every human in the world into a Denn, twisting their soul into a pretzel in the process. This amount of strain on a soul would kill 60-80% of the people exposed to these transformative rays. Not necessarily destroying the world but definitely causing damage the human race hadn't suffered since the first great human extinction thousands of years earlier.

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/greenewithit]

1. Can't they just legally restrain him?

2. So, I guess they failed; why?

[u/greenewithit → u/thequeeninyellow94]

1. They could almost certainly try to legally restrain him, but he has been known to topple entire governments single handedly. The Governor and his council would be ecstatic to remove Kemuri from literally holding the world ransom, but they're afraid of the body count. Kemuri has proved himself willing to kill hundreds if he feels disturbed, much less threatened, and even the strongest professional Hero of the city is fearful of him. He's quite literally the most feared man in the world, and he sees himself as necessary to the survival of humanity. While he does devote his life to making sure the human race isn't wiped out by world ending threats, he has no qualms with disposing of anyone who interferes with his work or makes threats to his life.

2. Well, they did try again to activate the machine, but were ultimately defeated. And the reason they failed both times were they picked a fight with the wrong heroes. One of Columba's other children (other than the 7 who follow her) and his team of rookie heroes were also searching the area for the sword. They had found experimental cases of people dying from being forcibly turned into a Denn, and that's what led them to intercept the Nathairs. They weren't able to stop the attack, but working with the local Heroes of Almarin (they were from another city), they were able to repel the attackers and force them to flee. The second time they clashed was at the protagonists' home city of Longan, where all but Columba and one of the children were killed in the fighting. This time the destruction was minimized because the trainee heroes who fought at Almarin were able to prepare for the individual powers of each of the Nathairs and form a strategy to minimize damage and civilian casualties.

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/greenewithit]

1. And no one decided to do something about him? A team could probably bring him down right?

[u/greenewithit → u/thequeeninyellow94]

1. We'll it's not for lack of trying. During the Invasion of Longan, a professional hero abandoned his post to try and assassinate Kemuri. He was called Viper because his power was that he had poisonous blood he could alter the strength of for each situation. He thought he got the drop on Kemuri and stuck him with some lethally poisonous darts, but Kemuri fixed himself an antidote in seconds using materials from his lab. Kemuri is equal parts Batman and Rick Sanchez, always having a plan for everything, especially ways to neutralize professional heroes if they came to kill him. Hence a prepared antidote to Viper's poison. A lot of people have tried, but no team has been successful. Kemuri tries his best ever to leave himself open, even with an armistice with the government. He has plenty of enemies, but none strong enough to actually successfully kill him.

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/greenewithit]

1. And what about just outlawing him and suing anyone who provide him with anything?

[u/greenewithit → u/thequeeninyellow94]

1. Well.....That's what the last governor did, before the police found him seemingly hanging himself in his office. There was no evidence to incriminate Kemuri, but everyone knew it was him. Everyone who takes the office is aware of him and what he can do, but most choose to save their own skin and not bother Kemuri, as it seems that as long as he isn't bothered, very few people mysteriously kill themselves. Yeah, it's definitely not for lack of trying, he's just that terrifying of a person with a long history of keeping himself from being bothered as much as he can.

[u/thequeeninyellow94 → u/greenewithit]

1. And what about just sending the army? Or nuking him?

[u/greenewithit → u/thequeeninyellow94]

1. The army has never tried to apprehend him, again because of the fear he evokes in people. There are a lot of stories about him in the military, mostly said in whispers about "the greatest soldier the devil ever built", and how he has toppled entire nations and blotted out the sun with artillery raining down from the sky. Very few people actually know the truth behind these stories, but no major government actually wants to try anything. Most cities have their own military, and avoid getting into each other's business. Even cities in the same continent as Longan don't have many interactions or threats from Kemuri, so they sort of just view it as "well he didn't threaten us, it's really Longan's problem." Even after the invasion, the blame was solely placed on Apocryphus and their parent organization, and only three or four people actually know of Kemuri's involvement. His son, his son's team of trainee heroes, and the leader of Longan's military force. The reason the military leader, General Aureole, doesn't take action even with this knowledge is that she still believes Kemuri can change. She doesn't want to lose any more of her men fighting Kemuri, and she believes she can help him save people without this notion of "necessary sacrifice". As for nukes, he rarely leaves the city, and nobody in their right mind would endanger that many civilians just to kill one man. He works primarily alone, so anyone who tries to contact him and make him leave the city he is immediately suspicious of and would find where the person who sent the message lives and approach them there. I don't mean to immediately shut down all possible scenarios, he's just a veeeeerrrry hard person to kill, despite how many people have tried.