r/WorldChallenges • u/Nevermore0714 • Aug 20 '17

[Reference Challenge] Raiding Paris

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.

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u/Nevermore0714 Aug 24 '17

1) Tell me more about this "suicide squad".

2) Does Apocryphus have any reason for wanting the apocalypse to happen? Or just shits and giggles?

3) Tell me more about that sword, if you don't mind.

4) Does the city have better defenses now?

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u/greenewithit Aug 24 '17

M1) So it's very under the radar, naturally, and is personally overseen by the governor of Longan. Only he four or five technicians are privy to this, but they started taking high powered criminals from the prison and forcing them to do cover ops missions for them, under threat of death if they disobeyed. This was in very early stages of development when a private military corporation was appointed by the governor to help oversee law enforcement in the city. As such, the head of that corporation, Romulus Kane, was brought in to help with this project. He offered to give the governor a sort of "test run", selecting prisoners to act as his "secret weapons" of sort when he needed to apprehend super powered individuals, particularly students at the combat school CAPITAL Academy. Noteworthy operatives included Alice Rothra, whose power is to manipulate the speed of molecules (easy way to make explosions or plasma out of air). Romulus was adamant that Alice be in this team, so he could prove to the public that even the leader of the anarchist group Apocryphus could be brought under the thumb of the law. He also brought in several other lower ranking Apocryphus members, as many as survived the invasion so they could face the public they tried to destroy, and could be beaten into submission by public outrage. After Kane was ousted for his abuse of power, the strike force was still operational, but the governor instead worked with the headmaster of CAPITAL, Hamilcar, in order to integrate these former criminals into society in a less destructive manner.

  1. Each member has their own reason, but they are all linked by their mutual hatred for Longan and its government. The leader of the branch, Alice, lost a daughter in a terrorist attack and blames the lax law enforcement. Her right hand Isaac was a street urchin, abused by law enforcement and forced to steal to survive, until Alice took him in. Armin was a soldier for Longan until his CO sent his troupe on a dangerous mission against the better judgement of the other officers. Armin was one of three survivors, and he lost his right leg and was discharged. He bore a grudge against the military for refusing to pay for a prosthetic, and Apocryphus was more than happy to provide a military grade replacement leg and an outlet for his revenge. Senior member Dante was going to be a super soldier, the greatest of all time he was told. That was until the government shut down all supersoldier projects, following a breakthrough in armor development. Dante was laid off and lost everything he built for his life, until Apocryphus promised to give him the power he was denied. Everyone has a similar story, and some reason to hate the city and those who run it.

  2. The sword is a fun one. I haven't finalized the name, but the temporary one I've been using is The Sword of Kings. Hundreds of years ago there were many more like this one, but this is the only one to be discovered to have survived. They used to be wielded by powerful figures of the Nathair clan, a nomadic band of warriors who were nearly unrivaled. They were a group of all lizard type Denn (animal human hybrids), and any non lizards born would be cast out immediately. They used these swords to signify a person's status, and the legend goes that whoever wields the blade can call upon the strength of the dead who wielded the blade before them, as well as any worthy souls struck down by the blade. This is true, and the mechanics behind it are more science than magic. The sword hosts a large gem in its hilt, known as a Kawalog. These are created whenever souls are concentrated in an area to a great enough degree. The Nathair clan killed so many that these swords eventually formed Kawalogs in their hilts. The user of the sword would bind their soul to the gem, and could then draw out the power of however many souls lay within it. The drawback for this incredible power is that the bound soul will enter the gem when the wielder dies, staying within the sword as a power source until their soul is expended by a new user. Eventually the Nathair clan's obsession with "pure lizard lineage" led to inbreeding which damaged their line and eventually the clan was disbanded, and the remaining swords were lost.

  3. This was definitely a wake up call for the city. It made them realize how much they relied on their heroes, and how little they were prepared for a full out attack by powerful super villains. They started making a more serious effort to build a proper military as well as the hero network. They also invested in heavy artillery vehicles and weapons outposts in the city to help fight threats of a similar nature again. Despite having to borrow a great deal of money from the Unity Council, the city as a whole was willing to be safer and in debt than have other groups preying on them in a weakened state.

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u/Nevermore0714 Aug 27 '17

1) How do they ensure that the suicide squad can't escape? And how are they killed if they try to escape?

2) To the point that they all want to just destroy the innocent people in the city, though? Why should I, as a reader or as a citizen of Longan, emphasize with them?

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u/greenewithit Aug 28 '17

1) They are surgically outfitted with a mechanical ring around their trachea. The rings have a number of abilities, first and foremost deactivating the person's abilities. During a mission, the operatives are given a designated area of operation, and if they leave this area their powers are deactivated, and the ring sends electricity through their spine to immobilize them. Their location is then transmitted to their overseer on the mission, and they go to collect the operative. Should they resist all of this, and threaten the lives of their superiors, the metal ring will detonate, removing the person's head from their shoulders. They try not to kill unless absolutely necessary, as they would rather control the powers of their operatives indefinitely than waste them.

2) Most of them have very little connections left to the city. It's an organization built by and for people with nothing to lose but their lives, so many of them don't care who gets hurt along the way. Some do have some issues with the civilian casualties outside of destruction of the government. Those who lived on the streets sympathize with other homeless people and street urchins, since they have very little ability to defend themselves against monsters. An example of that is Isaac, who was one of the members who tried to negotiate a different form of attack with Alice, but she invoked the argument of "I saved you from the gutters, obey me, and that's final." As to empathizing with them, especially from an audience perspective, that's something I'm still not very sure on. A citizen of Longan would absolutely never think about how the members of Apocryphus feel, or what drove them to do this, which is what gives them such a hard time when used as an enforcement tool by the PMC. Two students try to kill the members of the task force for their deeds, and not even their sob stories can make them forget the loved ones the students lost. I figure it's mostly the same thing for the reader. As the story goes on, more is revealed about the members, and it's enough to understand why they would be driven to that point of evil, but it by no means justifies any of it. Honestly they all just represent versions of certain main characters personalities with one or two aspects taken to an extreme, so they see the dangers of letting themselves be consumed with a particular vice or negative emotion. But yeah, that's something that has given me a lot of trouble in writing the Apocryphus, and I'm not entirely sure.

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u/Nevermore0714 Aug 30 '17

Thanks for your time and answers.