Band (Worm/Scion)

[BrotherMouse518]

Alright. So i had a shower thought; I should actually have the Scion side interact with the Brockton Bay/Worm side more. Not just around the Band. SO! I whipped up this strawpoll to see which of these yahoos get a brush with the supernatural.
As always feel free to chime in with your answer and justification, without interaction I have lack of context and dirrection

 

[Assblaster5000]

I find the idea of a history teacher, no matter how bad, getting involved with the supernatural unreasonably funny. Why I can not fathom, but I do.

 

[Simonbob]

Alright. So i had a shower thought; I should actually have the Scion side interact with the Brockton Bay/Worm side more. Not just around the Band. SO! I whipped up this strawpoll to see which of these yahoos get a brush with the supernatural.
As always feel free to chime in with your answer and justification, without interaction I have lack of context and dirrection

Click to shrink...

What we know about the LaBorn Patriarch is


1)He's hard.
2)He knows he can't look after Aisha, and is willing to step aside for Brian.
3)He married Celia Laborn, and had two kids with her.

I thought he was the one who taught Brian to box, but it's not in the Wiki, and I'm not going through Worm to find out.


The impression I got was a hard man, who knows he's kinda terrible, and thus, tries to minimise how much his bad traits screw those he cares about.


Now that I think of it..... A big, tough black guy who doesn't like drugs and druggies is at odds with all three big gangs in the Bay.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

What we know about the LaBorn Patriarch is


1)He's hard.
2)He knows he can't look after Aisha, and is willing to step aside for Brian.
3)He married Celia Laborn, and had two kids with her.

I thought he was the one who taught Brian to box, but it's not in the Wiki, and I'm not going through Worm to find out.


The impression I got was a hard man, who knows he's kinda terrible, and thus, tries to minimise how much his bad traits screw those he cares about.


Now that I think of it..... A big, tough black guy who doesn't like drugs and druggies is at odds with all three big gangs in the Bay.

Click to shrink...

Well, regardless of the outcome of the poll, he will be a character. Also try to give an ACTUAL reason why he aint there for both his kids and why he aint fighting for them. Don't matter how bad a dad you are, your baby mama is a crack whore you could not do worse you fuckup.

 

[Simonbob]

Well, regardless of the outcome of the poll, he will be a character. Also try to give an ACTUAL reason why he aint there for both his kids and why he aint fighting for them. Don't matter how bad a dad you are, your baby mama is a crack whore you could not do worse you fuckup.

Click to shrink...

One of my little sisters friends had a mother with issues. The mother in question tried to look after her daughter, tried to raise her right, but couldn't.

When the dad remarried, and got his life together, she sent her daughter off to live with him, away from her loonie, violent, unpredicable, mother. Who then killed herself, giving her daughter all her stuff.


She put it in her Will. She thought this was the only thing she could do for her daughter.


There are some really fucked up people out there. They might love their kids, and still know they're bad for them. And, that's before Family Court gets into the mix, because there's problems there too.

Brian wanted money and legitamcy to save his sister. His dad might well have been in a similar situation. Or, not.

The E88 are big in town, after all.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

There are some really fucked up people out there. They might love their kids, and still know they're bad for them. And, that's before Family Court gets into the mix, because there's problems there too.

Brian wanted money and legitamcy to save his sister. His dad might well have been in a similar situation. Or, not.

The E88 are big in town, after all.

Click to shrink...

True. We dont know the situation of Casa Laborn beyond Celia being a crackwhore and Papa Laborn (who in this fic is Kevin) being....absrnt.

 

[Charles Flynn]

I'll be honest here, I voted for Gladly. Largely because he's so much of a pretentious jackass in canon that I wouldn't mind seeing him get eaten by a dragon.

I'll admit, I was partly swayed towards the Brian's Father and Panacea camps, but, ultimately, I realized... there's a Gladly-shaped hole in my heart. And it leads into a draconic buffet line.

So vote Gladly.

He probably deserves it.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

I'll be honest here, I voted for Gladly. Largely because he's so much of a pretentious jackass in canon that I wouldn't mind seeing him get eaten by a dragon.

I'll admit, I was partly swayed towards the Brian's Father and Panacea camps, but, ultimately, I realized... there's a Gladly-shaped hole in my heart. And it leads into a draconic buffet line.

So vote Gladly.

He probably deserves it.

Click to shrink...

Sadly nobody, not even Gladly, would die or be seriously injured in such a scenario (honestly thinking of having it be side story bit) and it'd be;

1. World Building
2. An excuse for me to drag more people into the mad world of myth

I'm gonna be up front with you 2.X is still not even outlined and I may just pad out the time between me banging my head against the wall with more PHO posts and occasionally posting my shower thoughts.

Like for instance, did you know that there are deified scions introduced in 1e's Scion: God book that are an entire plot hook?

The Band called "The Keepers of The World" are a Band of Scions conspiring to use a massive amount of Legend, Will, and a fuckton of Fatebindings to sever the connections between The World (as in the planet Earth), the Overworld (Heaven, Mount Olympus, Yorubaland, Asgard, etc), and make the trip to the Underworld (Hell, Hel, Duat, Valhalla, etc) one way only.

Why? So that Humanity can be freed from the influence of the Gods, yes even these Scions.

Who is in this Band?

Himiko (as in the Queen of Yamatai) Scion of Amaterasu
Hernan Cortez (Yes as in the guy who fucked the Aztecs) Scion of Quetzalcoatl (I'm not kidding)
Wayland Smith/Volund the Smith Scion of ... Some Aesir we never find out about
Herakles/Hercules Scion of Zeus
Imhotep Scion of Ptah
Marinette, some fucking ugly ass Haitian Loa who is the most vile and amoral of the bunch and just wants to rule Haiti forever.

I've already made plans to incorporate at least three of them.

 

[Simonbob]

I voted for LaBorn, I though he could be interesting.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

Alright ladies and gents, the greater synopsis of 2.X is done along with the main focus character's sheet. I'm going to try and outline ALL of 2.X before I start writing individual chapters and such and hopefully this means that you'll get more chapters in quicker succession followed by a bit of a lull. Just trying to figure things out NGL. In the meantime, it's looking like the Strawpoll results are coming in nicely with Amy in the front, Daddy Laborn in second, and Parian in third place. Votes have more or less spoken. Here's the thing, I kinda wrote the perfect niches for our top three by accident? So congrats those of you who voted those three, they're all getting caught up in this bullshit. Gladly? I have plans for him don't worry. Skidmark and Hakenvulf? Not fatebound but most certainly running in to supernatural BS.
Don't worry, the actual top three will get greater focus than the bottom three. As for how and how severe? Nothing too life changing.

Anywho, quick rundown of what 2.X is gonna be:

It's title will be Bend & Break, it'll be the last time Walt has POV for a while and he's only the POV for one chapter, Taylor once again gets POV but only for a chapter (this will contain Foreshadowing and hints at the greater metaplot), and then for the rest of 2.X Lily becomes the focus and we see a proper Visitation and what a Hero-Tier Scion's capabilities really are.

Now for some questions to ask you;

Regarding the character sheets I make for the Band, should I post em (or links to em) as they get their Visitations or all at once when the Band actually gets together?

Do you guys want more PHO Posts (Traffic Reports, Art of Asskicking, other similar bits) in between lulls in posting or pure focus on the main story? (I do PHO posts in one sitting to make them as off the cuff and organically internet chat speak as possible)

What about the fic do you dislike and why?

Where do you feel I can improve?

Do I do these progress report updates to often?

That's all for now, I'll probably be lurking for the rest of the day as I write the outline and will be able to reply semi quickly. Have a good one!

 

[BrotherMouse518]

Feedback time; Outlining 2.1 you guys want the little "Toku Pizza Party" that Lily and Donnie roped everyone in to or do you feel it would detract from the main content of the chapter; Day 1 of Winslow?

 

[Charles Flynn]

Feedback time; Outlining 2.1 you guys want the little "Toku Pizza Party" that Lily and Donnie roped everyone in to or do you feel it would detract from the main content of the chapter; Day 1 of Winslow?

Click to shrink...

The second. I'd prefer to get to the meat of things.

 

[Miller At the Wash]

Feedback time; Outlining 2.1 you guys want the little "Toku Pizza Party" that Lily and Donnie roped everyone in to or do you feel it would detract from the main content of the chapter; Day 1 of Winslow?

Click to shrink...

Flashback it mid-chapter maybe.

 

[Assblaster5000]

Hernan Cortez (Yes as in the guy who fucked the Aztecs) Scion of Quetzalcoatl (I'm not kidding)

Click to shrink...

I have to wonder how this happened, the Mesoamerican Gods were bloodthirsty sure, but Cortez wasn't exactly a good thing for their followers. I'd also expect Tezcatlipoca to be the one that made Cortez into a Scion, not Quetzalcoatl, He(? She? Fate's corrupted me okay?) tends to be the nice one among that grouping of pantheons.

Not really sure how Scion treats all of this lorewise though, as far as I know Tezcatlipoca doesn't even exist in that/this universe.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

I have to wonder how this happened, the Mesoamerican Gods were bloodthirsty sure, but Cortez wasn't exactly a good thing for their followers. I'd also expect Tezcatlipoca to be the one that made Cortez into a Scion, not Quetzalcoatl, He(? She? Fate's corrupted me okay?) tends to be the nice one among that grouping of pantheons.

Not really sure how Scion treats all of this lorewise though, as far as I know Tezcatlipoca doesn't even exist in that/this universe.

Click to shrink...

Short Answer; Quetzalcoatl went to Spain, disguised himself as papa Cortez and for it on with Mrs Cortez. Why? Because he felt like it.

Hernan kinda lost it after thsy, finding out you killed your own people and that youre a demigod will do thay to you.

His role in the Keepers is ome wbere he sacrofices himself and an entire city to fuel the Keeper's plan.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

Spoiler: Author's Note

Due to some extra work coming my way I won't have as much time to write this and outlining has kind of gotten to a slog so for a bonus thing to tide you all over I give you a bonus Art of Asskicking, Homebrew to come sometime tomorrow. Enjoy!

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♦ Topic: Monsters; Fair Folk; Spring-Heeled-Jacks
In: Boards ► The Art of Asskicking
Mori_Corvus (Original Poster) (Verified Scion) (Verified Asskicker) (Corax MC)
Posted On Jan 9th 2011:
Let me start by saying I don't give a rat's ass if you idiots believe any of the posts we make on this board.

Got that?

Good

Contrary to the press of the day, Spring Heeled Jack was not a demon and he wasn't one person.

Spring-Heeled-Jacks, as they were named by the Victorian London Press, are a breed of the Fair Folk that made their first appearances in The World around 1830 and then reported by Mortal press in 1837.

They are Fair Folk that stick to urban metropolitan areas with abundant alleys and verticality. Their motives vary greatly; some prefer to merely scare small children and steal trinkets or baubles, some prefer to explore the dark and abandoned corners of cities and emulate the urban explorers and parkour enthusiasts, and a troubling amount more prefer to stalk and hunt Mortals for some sick sport.

Regardless of what they do, they will do it as cruelly and with as much malice as possible.

Some important information regarding these creatures;

1. Spring-Heeled-Jacks stand at three feet tall at the shortest and four and a quarter feet at the tallest.
2. Their skin is jet black and they perspire an oil like substance that allows them to slip through even the most narrow of spaces.
3. They carry knives made of a material that cannot be found anywhere in The World and cut better than any knife made by Mortal means.
4. Their maximum jump height is twenty feet vertically and/or horizontally
5. They enjoy talking, a lot.

What can you do if you encounter them?

If unarmed, run. If armed, make sure to lead your target. Either way you need to make sure you make every action count, they can out pace any Mortal and their natural coloration makes it very difficult to attack them in their preferred hunting grounds of light-less alleys.

Being Fair Folk they have three particular weaknesses of note;

1. Iron will burn them on contact and the pain will be excruciating enough to give you an opening to either finish it off or run
2. Any kind of cream will make them especially inebriated and if you somehow manage to catch wind of a spot they will ambush from, leave out bowls of cream and they will greedily drink it down and be too drunk to fight back. Don't bother trying to placate them as they attack you, they'll just take the cream after they kill you.
3. Strawberries on the other hand they will find irresistible and will chase any that are thrown nearby. The fresher and the less processed the better.

That's it.

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(Showing page 1 of 27)

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►Morgan Sinister ​

Replied On Jan 9th 2011:​

Wait, isn't Fair Folk another way of saying fairy? We're supposed to be scared of Tinkerbell now?​

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►Tumbles ​

Replied On Jan 9th 2011:​

Wait you don't mean like Grimm's Fairy Tales Fairies right?​

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►Mori_Corvus (Original Poster) (Verified Scion) (Verified Asskicker) (Corax MC)​

Replied On Jan 9th 2011:​

Spring-Heeled-Jacks are Unseelie and that should be enough, if that's not enough then read a fucking book.​

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►White Fairy (Veteran Member)​

Replied On Jan 9th 2011:​

Ok this is going to sound rich coming from someone with Fairy in their name, but what do you mean @Mori_Corvus?​

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►Lasersmile ​

Replied On Jan 9th 2011:​

I KNOW THIS!​

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Fairies are divvied up into two courts. according to Scottish folklore​

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You got the Seelie Court who are more or less benevolent but still very dangerous to deal with. I've got a direct quote right from one of my books on the subject!​

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"The Seelie Court were described as those fairies who would seek help from humans, warn those who have accidentally offended them, and return human kindness with favors of their own. Still, a fairy belonging to this court would avenge insults and could be prone to mischief. Seelies were known for playing pranks on humans and having a light hearted attitude, forgetting their sorrows quickly and not realizing how they affect the humans they play pranks on."​

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Basically think A Midsummer Night's Dream​

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Then you have the Unseelie Court who are lean towards the malevolent but not exactly Evil per say. Again a direct quote;​

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"The Unseelie Court, conversely, was used to describe the darkly-inclined fairies. Unlike the Seelie Court, no offense was deemed necessary to bring down their assaults. As a group (or "host"), they were thought to appear at night and assault travelers, often carrying them through the air, beating them, and forcing them to commit such acts as shooting at cattle. In Scotland they were seen as closely allied with witches. Like the beings of the Seelie Court who are not always seen as benevolent, neither were the fairies of the Unseelie Court always malevolent. Folklore includes stories of Unseelies becoming fond of particular humans if they are viewed as respectful, and choosing to make them something of a pet."​

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My guess is these are the most Unseelie of the Unseelie court.​

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►Noveltry ​

Replied On Jan 9th 2011:​

Ok, so in the last one @TJ_On_The_Moon called Vista a "Starborn" and said that (what I assume) Parahuman powers won't always work the same way on stuff like Nasties. Does the same apply to fairies @Mori_Corvus?​

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►Numbah1Celtaboo (Verified Scion) (Verified Asskicker)​

Replied On Jan 9th 2011:​

Forgive my kinsman, he's not big on the internets and we kinda forced him to make an account in the first place and getting him to post twice was a chore in ajnd of itself. Yeah @Mori_Corvus won't be replying.​

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He also has been punching my arm whenever I tell him that there are people asking for more info.​

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It's starting to bruise!​

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Anyway, short answer; yeah.​

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From the few times that our fellow Verified Asskickers have seen Starborn encounter actual fairies (and not some fucking poser like that OO-lame chick) I can tell you that "Master" powers won't work at all. Everything else? Probably fair game depending on what it is and where you are.​

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If you are in side the realm of the fairies, then you are SOL for everything but good old physical shit.​

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ALSO do not lie to them, do not try to weasel your way out of a deal, and FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THE GODS DO NOT RESPOND TO THE QUESTION​

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"May I have your name?"​

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WITH YOUR ACTUAL NAME!​

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Say something like "You can call me X" and you will be able to walk away with your identity intact.​

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Also, never party with them if you value being a person and not turned into a tea cozy or a dog or something.​

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And with that I have a hot date with a member of House Fiona, and I shall leave you all to wonder what the hell I mean by that.​

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End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 25, 26, 27

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[Simonbob]

And with that I have a hot date with a member of House Fiona, and I shall leave you all to wonder what the hell I mean by that.

Click to shrink...

►Noveltry
Replied On Jan 9th 2011:
Is it an actual House? Or just their member?




What? We are on QQ, here.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

►Noveltry
Replied On Jan 9th 2011:
Is it an actual House? Or just their member?




What? We are on QQ, here.

Click to shrink...

Pfft!

Yes. I am taking the Noble Houses of the Fae from Changeling: The Dreaming and using them as the Nobility for fairies. They are not 1:1 the same as the fairies are not Changelings. (Although Changelings are a tyoe of fairy in Scion when I run it) let alone from C:tD.

Fiona is one of the Seelie Houses and their shtick is they are VERY passionate and very much into revelry and merryment. Especially in the bedroom.

They also partied with Fionn MacCumhail and his Fianna. Hence the Scion connection!

 

[BrotherMouse518]

Spring-heeled-Jack w/Curly Mustache

Tier: Hero
Archetype: Rival
Qualities: Group Tactics (Leader), Armor Piercing (Spring-Heeled-Jack Knife), Twitchy (already factored in), Natural Camo (Nocturnal), Slippery, Leaps and Bounds, Mystic Arsenal (Spring-Heeled-Jack Knife), Addiction - Strawberries (Sandbag), Strange Inebriation - Cream (Sandbag), Vulnerability - Iron (Sandbag)
Flairs: Keep Away!,
Drive: Sadism, Thrills, being a nuisance, Strawberries and Cream
Primary Pool: 9
Secondary Pool: 7
Desperation Pool: 5
Health: 3
Defense: 4
Armor: 0
Initiative: 8
Extras: +1 Enhancement for Offensive Stunts/Actions, +2 Enhancement for all other Stunt

Spring-heeled-Jack

Tier: Hero
Archetype: Foe
Qualities: Group Tactics, Armor Piercing (Spring-Heeled-Jack Knife), Twitchy (already factored in), Natural Camo (Nocturnal), Slippery, Leaps and Bounds, Mystic Arsenal (Spring-Heeled-Jack Knife), Addiction - Strawberries (Sandbag), Strange Inebriation - Cream (Sandbag), Vulnerability - Iron (Sandbag)
Flairs: Keep Away!,
Drive: Sadism, Thrills, being a nuisance, Strawberries and Cream
Primary Pool: 7
Secondary Pool: 5
Desperation Pool: 3
Health: 1
Defense: 1
Armor: 0
Initiative: 6
Extras: +1 Enhancement for Offensive Stunts/Actions

NOTE: A Spring-Heeled-Jack's knife cannot channel Purviews or make Marvels, they are not Relics merely a very good knife. Be sure to note this when utilizing the Mystic Arsenal Quality with this foe.

New Qualities

Natural Camo
Type: Defense
The Antagonist is blessed with a skin coloration or pattern that assists in blending in with it's preferred environment. Specify the Antagonist's preferred environment, attempts to employ any Physical Stunt/Action suffer a +2 Complication while the Antagonist is in this environment and the Antagonist gains a +2 Enhancement to any Stunt or Action related to sneaking in this environment.

Slippery
Type: Utility
The Antagonist is very slippery, whether by being slimy or perspiring a natural lubricant. The Antagonist gains a +2 Enhancement to slip through narrow passages and gaps appropriate of their Size and attempts to ensnare or grapple the Antagonist with this quality suffer a +2 Complication.

Leaps and Bounds
Type: Utility
The Antagonist's preferred method of movement is their great acrobatic abilities. The Antagonist gains a +2 Enhancement to Stunts/Actions where the Antagonist utilizes them

Compulsion/Addiction
Type: Sandbag
As Unnatural Hunger/Behavior but for a mundane source (i.e. an addiction to Strawberries)

Strange Inebriation
Type: Sandbag
Rather than the usual faire of narcotics or alcohol, the Antagonist becomes inebriated from a strange source (i.e. becoming drunk off of cream) and can be made Vulnerable or Out of Action through this inebriation.

New Flairs

Keep Away!
Type: Utility
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: Self
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: The Opponent comes within Close Range with the Antagonist or 1d3 Turns
The Antagonist moves back two range bands from nearest Close Range Opponent

Example Trophies:

Spring-Heeled-Jack Knife
The knives carried by Spring-Heeled-Jacks are made from a metal found within the fae realms and is superior to almost all mundane mortal crafted cutlery. They are also the only source of this metal and thus could be melted down as material to craft something else with the metal's enhanced properties.

Springy Heels
When properly preserved and treated, the lower legs of these malevolent faeries could be used as a wonderful reagent that many sorcerers and relic makers would pay handsomely to get their hands on.

Example Crafted Relic:
Spring-Heeled Shoes (Rating 3)
Footwear imbued with the same agility and lower body strength of a Spring-Heeled-Jack. Perfect for enhancing ones own jumping abilities or simply enhancing kicks. Grants +2 Enhancement to any Stunt primarily utilizing the legs of the user.

Knack: Super-High-Jump
Increase the Scale of your jump by the number of successes of your Knack Skill Roll (Maximum of 3)

 

[BrotherMouse518]

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♦ Topic: Mythology Exposed!
In: Boards ► Conspiracy Theories ► Ancient Aliens
Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Original Poster) (Not a tinker)
Posted On Jan 7th 2011:
CAUTION: LONG POST AHEAD, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Alrighty then, never thought I'd ever jump down a rabbit hole this deep or ever actually admit it, even on the internet.

So, ever since that "Art of Asskicking" thing, I got thinking. What else is real?

So if we take TJ's post as 100% Fact; Satyrs and their crackhead cousins are real, then does that mean the Gods (in this case the Hellenistic Pantheon) are also real?

I mean, the simple solution is that they were ancient Parahumans and that this shit happens in cycles or something but I figured I'd actually dig into this and do a little research.

My sister in law is a Mythologist and loans out a lot of the books she's picked up over the years to us if we ask. So I took her up on that and just spent an entire friggin' day reading through so many papers, books, journals, etc.

Luckliy she was able to help me find the more obscure stuff and even made me a cup or three of coffee

THANKS SARAH!

Anyway, I spotted some stuff that looked weird to me. I asked my sister-in-law about it and she just laughed and sent me a bunch of links to some conspiracy theory lists that probably put me on a list somewhere.

I am not talking that bullshit "There's a secret society of capes influencing the world and selling powers in vials" tin foil shit. The conspiracy theory in this case is in the friggin' title.

So I have spotted at least six instances of what could very well be evidence of either Ancient Parahumans or Ancient Aliens, they also had huge surges of worship in the modern day and throughout the time America was colonized and then became the United States, coming along with the various immgrant groups or whatever. I'll go into the gist of their depictions and my "evidence" along with how people venerate them now.

Let's get into it.

First off let's talk Norse Mythology. A lot of you guys in Europe and in Brockton Bay have the unfortunate tangential learning of dealing with criminal organizations who took on Norse Paganism's trappings as part of their white supremacist BS, hell Allfather got his name form Odin the king of the Norse gods.

Here's a quick rundown, the Norse Gods can be divvied up in to two camps you have the Vanir who are peaceful gods of health, fertility, etc. and then you have the Aesir the gods of war and violence. There was a war between them and then there was peace, bringing the two camps together as one united pantheon. Odin drank from the well of wisdom and gave up an eye for it as well, with this wisdom he witnessed the end of the world; Ragnarok. So the entire pantheon knows the worlds gonna end but keep going anyway, if they meet a way to change it then cool, if not then who the fuck cares the end times is kicking off with the brawl to end all brawls.

Within the Aesir, you have the god Thor right? Wields a hammer that only he can lift, almost drank the entire sea once (long story), fights giants for fun, all around nice guy. So he has children right? Magni and Modi who will go on to survive Ragnarok, Thrud his only daughter and only child born to his actual wife Sif, and he has a stepson named Ullr. Now here's the deal, there is a really obscure son by the name of Donner (or Donar) that many attribute the stuff he did to Thor.

Why? Because the guy barely shows up in either the Prose or Poetic Eddas at all and only as glorified footnotes. Where we get the most information on this Donner guy where he isn't lumped in with his dad is through pictographs in certain archaeological sites and accounts taken by Catholic Missionaries who tried to convert the Vikings. According to those records Donner was the god of lightning itself, where he struck first his father Thor soon followed. Donner was Lightning, Thor was Thunder. Still with me? Good.

He wielded a weapon called Giantsbane, a weapon described as being "An iron stave with a strange cog affixed to the center, Donner would move a smaller branch of the stave with his thumb, moving the strange cog and letting out a strange click, and Giantsbane would soon then shoot forth lightning"

Sounds kinda like a gun don't it? Now before you guys instantly say "You're crazy" how about I show you those pictograms eh?

That looks like a big fuckoff revolver don't it!? How about his "chariot"?

In the same accounts, Donner is described as "driving a horseless chariot or wagon, made from iron, wheels as black as night and becoming the clouds as it flew across the sky."

Horseless Wagon? Like what they used to call cars eh?

So in the Germanic countries in Europe, Donner got really popular with auto manufacturers and mechanics and it is still custom to this day in these places to hang a plaque above your workshop or garage with the phrase "Donner bless my shop" written in elder furthak. When Heavy Metal came, Donner was front in center on many an album cover and many a song. Y'all probably remember Yngwei Malmstein's hit single "Donner's Chariot" hitting pretty big, especially with the vinyl's cover art. He got a sizeable following amongst American metalheads and neopagans and yes even mechanics. If I remember correctly, they were like the only group the fucking pearl clutchers didn't try to decry as satanic. Maybe it was because they all decided to go into automechanics?

Moving right along to the Greeks, the Hellenistic Pantheon, the Theoi. Most of us know them from shit like Clash of the Titans, the Earth Aleph Disney Hercules movies, etc. and we all more or less get the gist of the main guys

Cliffnotes of these dudes; their family tree is a family circle, Zeus is the ultimate horndog and has sired many bastards, they are insanely petty, and all are the absolute masters of what they do.

Now an obscure god in the pantheon springs up in relation to the Goddess Aphrodite; Adonis Rhodos.

One of her many children, he is the odd one out on account of having no recorded father in ANY record. In myths about him, he is mentioned "to have one from a faraway land across the sea to the west and to have a lover waiting for him far across the sea to the east."

Now that's all well and good but you're probably asking right about now "Procto what is he the god of and why does he have a surname unlike the rest of the pantheon?"

Good question imaginary person who I shall call Timmy

Adonis Rhodos is the only member of the Hellenistic pantheon to have a surname and he is the patron god of Love, Loss, Fidelity, and Wealth. All of his myths involve him bringing lovers who are separated by misfortune or tragedy together safely, rewarding those who stay faithful to their spouses, and teaching economic theory (yeah I know it sounds boring). In myths where he appears along the other gods, he is often depicted as on the side of humanity and never taking offense to what mortals do and never brought mortals down for their hubris, instead trying to educate them into changing their ways.

According to historical record he had a sizeable cult on the island of Rhodes and some claim that he himself laid dominion over it during the Mycenean period. His festivals were basically like modern day Valentines day where married couples would do expressions of fidelity and love, younguns took their shot at love by asking out their crushes, and those who lost loves mourned and honored them. Hell, this guy got so popular with people he almost deposed his mother as the chief god of love but sadly the greater cultural zeitgeist of the time pushed back and even attempted to burn down the city of Rhodes in retaliation.

Much like Donner he is depicted in artwork and in his myths wielding weapons resembling modern firearms. In this case; a pair of pistols. Magazine fed, according to the websites that I cited they are speculated to be either a pair of Taurus Pt99 or Beretta 92 variants. Regardless of the platform they are called Eros and Anteros, love and hate.

Adonis Rhodos gets lumped in with fellow son of Aphrodite, Eros (Cupid in roman) because of his choice of weapon doing essentially the same thing (he shoots you and you fall madly in love with the first thing you see, he shoots you with Anteros and you hate the first thing you see). He is depicted with wings and according to the few busts that have made it to the modern day (Here, Here, and Here for those of you interested) looks almost exactly like Donald Rhodes Jr. or Brad Pitt if you squint a little. Hell, Rhodes has taken pictures in Greece at the Parthenon with the only full statue of Adonis Rhodos and posted it to Nymphstagram! A lot of the conspiracy sites I hit claim this is him admitting he is the god incarnate or some shit. Big if true.

Throughout history, Adonis Rhodos was venerated by artists and playwrights the world over. Hell, William fucking Shakespere put him in Romeo & Juliet! I mean that scene usually gets cut in many productions because of how out of place and how the pacing is off, but he gets name dropped frequently throughout anyway! I think that Aleph modern take on it (Romeo + Juliet) kept it in just because of the fact that he has guns. In Rhodes they still celebrate his festival to this day and it's a tradition to toss a coin with your lover's name on it into the fountain at where his temple stood for luck. Here in the US he's often in Valentines day decor along with the roman depiction of his brother. Yeah that guy with the wings who's always hanging with cupid? That's Adonis Rhodos.

Moving on further East, we have the gods of Egypt. I can't fucking pronounce their arabic or ancient egyptian names so forgive me when I use their greek names.

So once apon a time there was Ra, king of the gods. One day he got old as shit and is retired. He says to his son Osiris "Hey son you're in charge now" and Osiris is all for it, but not his brother Set who throws a bitch fit and chops up Osiris into little pieces. Osiris' Sister/Wife (Gods commit incest a lot btw, dunno if you caught on) Isis gathered every last bit of him except for his dick (but it's ok she made him a bigger and better one out of gold that still worked!) and then used her magic to resurrect him. So in celebration of not being dead they get it on and find out that his new goldmember only works once. Ah well, either way Isis is now preggers with Osiris' successor Horus. She hides somewhere while Osiris distracts Set and eventually Horus is born and grows up to whup his uncles ass and take the throne.

Now there are a handful of accounts where Horus has a son of his own who founded one of the first organized law enforcement agency in historical record. We are talking beat cops, detectives, rudimentary forensic technicians, et cetera. This god's name is Harishar and yes he has a gun, although there's no magic powers and the few statues of the guy don't give any detail to it. I haven't found any myths of the guy, but there are historical records and even passages of the bible that reference him (or possibly his ancient police) being fair and just even to the ancient Hebrews that lived under the rule of the Pharaohs. He was said to patrol the Nile with his barque and would check in with every chief of police and make sure that they and their subordinates stayed true to their vows as officers of the law. Any who broke those vows were enslaved or executed by hanging. That is often reported in historical record btw

Would you believe that he is the only Egyptian god still actively worshipped in Egypt? Yeah, when Islam became the dominant religion in the Middle East his followers kept the faith alive and still venerated him in secret. Hardcore Islamists don't like it but he's kind of the ideal Cape before capes were a thing. There were like twelve movies made in Egypt based on a comic strip based on adventure novels based on the old Harishar myth and they all made BANK! You won't find a police precinct in Egypt that doesn't have a plaque with the old hieroglyphic tenants of the old police hanging somewhere and the National Egyptian Police's banner has him on it. Now when people from that part of the Middle East started emigrating over here to the States and a few of them or their kids became cops, they brought little copies of Harishar's tenants and often still utter a prayer or to when they go out. A few American cops actually picked up the habit in New York City, it's why the 13th Precinct's banner has a cop in an Egyptian headdress and has the first line of Harishar's tenants along the bottom.

Further east yet again, we move to Japan. Also much further along the timeline of history then the last two. Within shintoism's many kami there is a major kami that didn't get a lot of stories of her own but is referenced a lot.

Gimui-Kuromizuhime (The Dutiful Princess of Black Water) or just Kuromizuhime. Daughter of the god Susano-oo, niece to the chief goddess Amaterasu. She is actually depicted in Japanese myth as a fierce warrior and was one of the wielders of the Kusanagi, the Grasscutter, prior to Amaterasu granting it to one of her own children who would go on to become the first emperor of Japan. So despite being revered as one of the major kami her shrines aren't that big. According to the few records we have this was by design as Kuromizuhime preferred to be revered on the road with few frivolities. Her shrines are where you get something that many historians believe was a holdover of Chinese mysticism; shrine tablets. Kuromizuhime is the patron kami of divers, travelers, smiths, youthful rebellion, and self-actualization, so people would go to a shrine to her and buy a tablet of her and carry it with them on their journeys and they still do it to this day. She was also the patron goddess of Onna-Bugeisha,

"Wait, Procto!"

Yes Timmy?

"She doesn't have a gun like the last three, why is she considered an example of an ancient alien?"

Good eye Timmy, she doesn't have a gun. But she does have this

"Is that?"

Why yes Timmy, it is in fact an ukio-e (dated circa 1634) painting depicting Kuromizuhime and her "Iron Horse" or as we call it a fucking street bike, crotch rocket motorcycle. That's not the only time she's depicted with it either, in none of her myths is she described as having an iron horse but its always in artwork depicting her that she rides one.

Unlike the first three gods, Kuromizuhime's worship never really took off until the modern day. I mean, sure her shrines are always visited and didn't get fucked with during WW2, but she didn't start getting really popular till about until the mid 1950's. See Japan's first big motorcycle manufacturer (Mishima Automotive) named their first (and to this day most popular) line motorcycles the Kuromizuhime in her honor. These babies ran like a dream and were relatively inexpensive at the time, so the Bosozoku gangs took to them like a fish to water. Quite a few of them even had her on their gang colors, the really violent ones didn't last long while the "Honorable" ones still go on to this day even after all the gang crackdowns of the 70's on. Natch, when Leviathan sunk Kyushu and the Japanese diaspora brought a lot of Japanese immigrants, her followers brought Kuromizuhime with them and there is many a shrine to her wherever there are Japanese and Japanese Americans. Harley Davidson, Indian, and Confederate Motors worked with Mishima Automotive to bring back the old '52 Kuromizuhimes through their own variants to raise funds for the relief (The Harley Black Water, Indian Hime, and the Confederate GKMH). She is also referenced in MANY Anime and Manga out of Japan (both Aleph and here in Bet) and even had her own animated picture in Aleph that trounced Disney's Mulan! I also heard from my niece that a lot of middle school girls started buying the tablets and hanging them off their backpacks or even trying to emulate her hairstyle from the aleph movie.


Don't worry theres only two left. We go so far East we've hit the Americas!

Did you guys know that the one thing that the Aztecs and many civilizations that followed in that part of Central and South America had was medical advancements? They actually had an EXTENSIVE medical apparatus for the day and even had a grasp on germ theory and sanitation. It's why when the Spanish came that the first people in Montezuma's court to speak with the Spanish were the royal physicians asking about their medical history. According to the Aztecs, they had a god by the name of Itzli Ocelotl (Obsidian Jaguar in Nauhatl) that taught them medicine and how disease was spread. They even had fucking medical journals and an entire medical school that doubled as a small city! According to the few surviving records and myths, The Obsidian Jaguar was the son of Tezcatlipoca (although some claim that he was actually the son of Quetzalcoatl) and contrary to the rest of the Aztec gods was the least violent of the gods and demanded no sacrifice in his worship. He supposedly taught the Aztecs how to safely and cleanly perform surgery, prevent disease, and even how to make medicines that we still use to this day like acetaminophen and aspirin. He was also a god of prophecy, the stars, and the moon.

Not gonna lie he's the one I have the least faith in actually being an ancient alien, so the Aztecs had fairly advanced medical practices for the day, big whup.

Much like many other mesoamerican mythological figures, he got bundled in with Catholicism and Christianity when it got brought over. Supposedly he still pops up on earth from time to time and is often venerated as a folk saint whenever he does. He is pruported to have been El Niño Fidencio, San Pascualito, Don Pedro Jaramillo, and various other similar folk saints. Doctors across Central and South America often hang paintings of him in their offices for luck and the largest observatory in Mexico is named in his honor.

Last and much like Itzli up there, the one with the least amount of evidence to being an acient alien also one I know and found out the leas about.

Baronne/Baroness De La Croix. One of the Loa, the vodoo/vodoun gods.

She pops up with her father Baron Samedi when Vodoo starts and didn't really have all that much worship until Prohibition. Here's where the Ancient Aliens thing comes in; in every depiction of her she is wearing clothes that are anachronistic for the era by two decades. The Mambos and Houngans that let her posess them usually paint up a big portrait of her and to the date of the painting, the anachronism is there. There's very little on her and I attribute it to her main worshippers; drunk mardi gras goers and morticians. If you ever went out on a bender in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and passed out drunk, odds are you woke up in some basement with a bunch of other people and found you all were wearing merch with her face on it. Morticians in Louisiana all have a bust of her somewhere for some reason and none of them would give a straight answer.

That's all I have and all I will post. Yeah I know it's thin, but hey I had to put this out there otherwise it would feel like I wasted an entire days worth of research.

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(Showing page 35 of 56)

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►WhedonRipperFan (Banned)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

For the last time, this story is bullshit. It's all some coincidence. I had heard enough of this from my burnout roomate!​

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►Mane Magenta ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Hey, I mean its at least interesting?​

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►Ultracut ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Dude, I was one of those Donner worshipping metalheads, we all joked that Donner drove a Mustang before we heard this shit.​

►Tumbles ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

This is gonna sound weird, but doesn't Donald Rhodes Jr's late wife kinda look like Kuromizuhime in the paintings?​

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►Lo A Quest ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Yeah, now that you mention it.​

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►Noveltry ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

I agree with Whedon, this is all coincidental bs​

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►XxVoid_CowboyxX ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Come on, don't you guys think it has some merit? I mean first we get that Nasty in Brockton, we got all that crazy shit down outh. Nilbog and Heartbreaker dying?​

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I'm calling it now, I bet you the gods are all coming back and the monsters and other shit like that are coming too!​

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►Ryus ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Shut up cowboy​

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►Thatdude ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

STFU Void_Cowboy​

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►Nondeceptive ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

How the hell have you not been banned yet?​

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(Showing page 36 of 56)

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►Noveltry ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Of fucking course cowboy shows uyp​

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►XxVoid_CowboyxX ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

You know y'all love me!​

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Hear me out on this. I got a little theory of my own that makes snese​

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So what if these specific non asshole gods that have guns and modernc ars and bieks are all Parahumans that got hit nwith some time warp bullshit in the future and then sent back to the pat?​

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I mean it makes sense right?>​

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►Whitecollar (Cape Wife)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

...​

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Ok that's enough internet for me I'm actually thinking that something @XxVoid_CowboyxX , makes fucking sense​

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►Lolitup ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

I mean it makes more sense than aliens​

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►WhedonRipperFan (Banned)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Fuck off cowboy!​

►HorseMom (Verified Lawyer) (Verified Asskicker) (Moderator)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Someones been a naughty boy! Take your spanking!​

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►Mori_Corvus (Verified Scion) (Verified Asskicker) (Corax MC)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

How did the liesmith get mod status?​

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►Numbah1Celtaboo (Verified Scion) (Verified Asskicker)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Ohshitohshitohshitohshtiohsiotho​

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@DoktorD why is he here?​

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►TJ_On_The_Moon (Verified Journalist) (Verified Scion) (Verified Asskicker)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

why is she here you mean?​

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►Mori_Corvus (Verified Scion) (Verified Asskicker) (Corax MC)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Liesmiths a freak anyway does it matter whatever the fuck hes called?​

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(Showing page 37 of 56)

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►DoktorD (Certified, Verified, and Death Defied DJ)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Jesus christ tumbleweeds wake a man up from his nap for this?​

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they asked me, I owed them, they're a mod. endo story​

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►HorseMom (Verified Lawyer) (Verified Asskicker) (Moderator)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

THAT'S RIGHT BOOTY PIXIES! I'M A MOD SUCK IT!​

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Don't worry, so long as you don't have a Verified Asskicker or Scion tag I won't abuse my responisbilitye.​

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much ​

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►TJ_On_The_Moon (Verified Journalist) (Verified Scion) (Verified Asskicker)​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

Huh. Well expect more kinky shit on the nsfw boards people. We have the anglo asshat the slapstic saxon himself as a moderator.​

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►Feychick ​

Replied On Jan 7th 2011:​

and Void Cowboy didn't get banned for once! It's a k'nishmas miracle!​

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[BrotherMouse518]

Yeah, I've been working at a side gig and will soon be moving out of my apartment and thus havent had time to outline, so you giys get this and then a bit of homebrew tomorrow. I do not know how I would naturally out this shit in. This is how the 1e Ready Made Scion characters are venerated and where.

 

[Ryan Lozano]

You know I really want the hijacker moderator to banned the ones that are telling Greg to be banned if we remove those ones then more people will listen to Greg

 

[BrotherMouse518]

Harishar, God of Justice, Law Enforcement Officers, Judges
Pantheon: Netjer
Callings: Leader, Judge, Guardian
Purviews: Sun, Moon, Stars, Sky, Order, Epic Stamina, Epic Perception, Journeys

---

Adonis Rhodos, God of Love, Loss, Fidelity, Wealth
Pantheon: Theoi
Callings: Lover, Guardian, Liminal
Purviews: Beasts (Doves), Beauty, Sky, Passion (Love, Lust, Loss), Journeys, Prosperity, Epic Dexterity

---

Donner, God of Lightning, Mechanics, Metalheads, and Travelers
Pantheon: Aesir
Callings: Warrior, Guardian, Creator
Purviews: Epic Strength, Epic Stamina, Forge, Journeys, Sky, War

---

Itzli Ocelotl/The Obsidian Jaguar, God of Extirpation, Doctors, Folk Healers, Medicine
Pantheon: Teotl
Mantles: El Niño Fidencio, San Pascualito, Don Pedro Jaramillo
Callings: Healer, Sage, Liminal
Purviews: Deception (Mystery), Fertility, Fortune (Prophecy), Health, Moon, Stars

---

Kuromizuhime, Goddess of the Ocean Depths, Motorcyclists, Rebellious Youth, Self-Actualization
Pantheon: Kami
Callings: Creator, Trickster, Warrior
Purviews: Epic Dexterity, Fertility, Forge, Journeys, Sky, Sun, War, Water

---

Baroness De La Croix, Goddess of Death, Morticians, Revelry, Jazz Musicians
Pantheon: Loa
Callings: Liminal, Guardian, Judge
Purviews: Darkness, Death, Health, Journeys, Earth, Artistry (Jazz)

---

You had the fluff in the PHO post and now you have the mechanics. Congratulations!

As gods who don't have writeups show, they too will get postings. Although their fluff will come with their crunch.

Design Notes;

I made these guys based on their base writeups in Scion: God from 1e. Many of the Purviews got streamlined or cut entirely and thus I had to put in the 2e versions of what they have. Here's the rundown of the 1e vs 2e changes

• Psychopomp was divided into both Death and Journeys
• Many Epic Stats were cut or redone as a Calling (such as Epic Intelligence becoming the Sage Calling or Epic Charisma becoming the Beauty purview)
• The Magic purview no longer exists. It is gone. Supposedly they're gonna add in the Sorcerer calling in its own book but I have yet to hear anything about it

You may notice that five of the six Gods here have the Journeys Purview. That is because in their God writeup, those five were essentially runners for the Gods. Now more specifically;

• Harishar was border patrol during the second Titanomachy and road his Barque in the Overworld and his Indian Motorcycle on The World, he also had The Book of Going Forth By Day as a Relic and thus I felt it appropriate to give him Journeys as a purview.
• Adonis Rhodos even admits that he played Hermes-lite
• Donner's build evolved around his GTO "The Goat" and it's part of his main arsenal as a God
• Kuromizuhime still makes super bikes and loves motorcycles why wouldn't she become the patron goddess of them?
• Baroness De La Croix is a messenger for the Loa

I mentioned earlier that many Epic Attributes got axed or redone, Epic Perception was one of the axed ones. I decided to use it in my campaigns along with Epic Charisma which is why these gods have those.

The Mystery and Prophecy purviews do not exist in 2e vanilla. They are the examples for Purview Specialization in Mysteries of the World: The Scion Companion however and thus these gods get them as that.

For those of you who read the writeups in Scion: God you may wonder why certain gods got Purviews that they didn't have. Allow me to explain;

• Harishar never had Stars in 1e, but since Magic isn't a purview anymore I just replaced it with Stars
• Adonis Rhodos had the Animal purview in 1e due to wielding the Deadealus Device (Icarus Wings), I decided to make his favored animal Doves to fit rather than it being nebulous, being the financial backer of the band and (some stuff we'll get into in story) Adonis Rhodos picked up economics and thus Prosperity
• Donner was the easiest to put in. All I did was give him Forge since he was a gearhead
• Obsidian Jaguar is described as having a Sanctum on the Moon and uses the stars in his Prophecy Purview. Hence Moon and Purview
• Kuromizuhime is also a gearhead but with motorcycles, thus Forge. Everything else is Vanilla
• Baroness De La Croix gets Artistry (Jazz) because low hanging fruit and because (in verse story things we will get to)

And there you have it, if you ever wanted to be a scion of the 1e Ready-Made, here you go.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

Headsup guys. Huge delays, story is still on. Got a side gig with my dad last week and this week I've been real sick. I did manage to finish the character sheets of the Band and they'll go up as they complete their visitations (or when they show up in the case of two of em). In the meantime 2.1 is about 1/3 done but hasnt been touched for two weeks, and odds are wont get touched till next week at the earliest. I sincerely apologise for the delays and will work harder in the future.

 

[Assblaster5000]

You're life takes precedent, don't feel pressured to keep writing for us if you need some time away from the story for whatever reason. We're all here for the long haul, and I've had stories update years down the line that I kept reading.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY!

Outlining is done on 2.1 and writing has begun! Expect the new update either Friday or Saturday

That is all!

 

[BrotherMouse518]

Walt

1/09/11

I had returned from the impromptu "End of Winter Break" get together, that Rhodes had somehow dragged us all to, several hours ago. Despite the late hour, one that I didn't bother confirming by viewing the alarm clock to my right on the desk, I was wide awake and reading the various entries within The Encyclopedia Fabula regarding the fae in alphabetical order. I had hit the "C" section and was reading up on the greater intricacies of the Cait Sith. Evian had decided to sleep in my room tonight yet again and was lounging on my bed, stretching himself out and trying to get comfortable.

"You know you have a primary source right here, kid." He said lazily from the bed "No need to crack open Book about it."

Evian had been referring to The Encyclopedia Fabula as Book or Booker whenever I had begun reading it before letting the night take me. Granted the tome didn't seem to mind or comment on the damn cat's nickname at all however I felt no need to refer to it in such an informal manner. Regardless, Evian had been trying to goad me into conversation ever since I had returned home and I felt no need to indulge him. Normally it would be simply because I didn't want to hear the Bostonian Sidhe ramble like a loon for the umpteenth time but tonight I was simply trying to shake a sense of foreboding that had taken hold of me. Normally such a feeling would be alleviated by reading or by chores but with tomorrow being the first day of school and it being so late there would be no time for work even if there were any, leaving only recreational reading. Sadly flipping through the bountiful pages of The Encyclopedia Fabula did nothing to quash that dreadful feeling growing within my chest.

The book must have either sensed my distress through my rather rapid pace of reading or it had some unknown and arcane means of sight and read my face, as it had become blank save for the phrase

"Are you OK Walt?"

I closed the book and moved to my bed, ignoring the concern coming from that strange enchanted book and making sure to brush Evian to the floor. Evian took my place at the desk, opening the Encyclopedia and reiterating the question. Again, I ignored him and merely turned to face the wall my bed was placed against. Despite my clear and present disinterest in conversation, Evian leapt back on to the bed and crawled over to look me in the eye as he lay next to me.

"Something crazy happen at the party, kiddo?" He waggled whatever passed for eyebrows on his face "You see a gal and give her the old 'Save a horse, ride a cowboy', eh?"

I glared Evian down

"I take it you're going to keep talking till I answer the damn question, cat?"

The infuriating feline laughed and nodded yes

"What's eatin' you cowboy?" he asked me

I let out a deep sigh and reached over to bring The Encyclopedia Fabula into our conversation, as I opened the book and relished the fresh scent of grass and clover its pages filled with question marks begging for me to answer.

I thought long and hard how to explain my feelings to the cat and book. The party itself was actually quite enjoyable, Lily had been true to her word and brought a plethora of her Earth-Aleph films and television serials over and we watched quite a few. Rhodes had brought the refreshments and came in surprisingly informal and casual attire, surprising us all with old generic store-brand jeans and a blank white tee made of cotton. As I was technically hosting and Taylor hadn't been confident enough in her flute abilities neither of us really contributed to anything beyond helping set up the projector and playing A/V club. All in all it was the most fun I had in years, it was the first time in a long time that I actually did not find the presence of people my own age grating or annoying in the slightest, and it didn't involve a harebrained scheme from Winnie spoiling it.

"It wasn't the party." I told them. "Just a bad feeling."

This strange dread that had taken hold of me began when we had all left the party, Lily was picked up by her parents, Rhodes rode home on his fixie, Taylor and I rode home with Finn and Saoirse. I'm not sure if anyone else saw it, but I was reasonably sure I saw that one stalker of Rhodes skulking about as we left. It was out of the corner of my eye and I only saw a silhouette resembling that rather unpleasant girl, but the feelings of dread had began then. There were four schools that enrolled adolescents within the Brockton Bay metropolitan area, each of those schools was more or less full or overflowing, so if I were correct in my ballpark estimate of about three thousand students per school then the odds of that girl being in Winslow were about one in four, the odds of us being in the same class together or even in the same grade were much larger numbers that, admittedly, I don't think I could calculate even if I had the patience for them. The girl in question feels extremely off for lack of a better description, like something was not natural about her. I had consulted The Encyclopedia Fabula earlier, but none of its results matched any description I gave. In fact I'm reasonably sure that if I explained what I was looking for and why in detail to the book it would just tell me that I'm describing a teenage girl obsessed with a boy.

Evian broke my introspection and train of thought with a "Wanna talk about it big guy?"

I glared at him again and told him "Drop it, cat. It's probably nothing."

"Alright." he conceded "I'm stuck with you kiddo, whether you like it or not and if you need someone to talk to then who better than a talking cat that don't get out much?"

As much as it pained me to admit, the cat had a point. I'd never tell him though. I gave The Encyclopedia Fabula a pat that I hoped came off as comforting. Hard to tell when I have little experience with consoling anybody and the person I'm comforting is a book with no facial cues. After setting it down on the desk and brushing Evian aside and dozed off.

No dream of what was to come

No nightmare to torment me

Just dark and silence.

A perfect night of sleep to be honest. I woke to the sound of my alarm at exactly five AM, brushed Evian off my chest and on to the floor, and continued the routine I had settled in to the past month. Strangely, last night's sense of dread did not return with my awakening and that only raised more questions,

First was to get my clothes for the day ready, in this case jeans, a white t-shirt, a plain button up shirt over it, winter socks, despite them deliberately marking me as out of place I chose to go with my favorite boots sans the spurs, and then a denim jacket with wool liner. I wasn't risking my only hat going to such a foul school and with how I'd have to remove it in class and leave it in my locker I didn't see the point in bringing it. If I recalled correctly, the school would provide a shirt for gym and I'd be required to wear athletic shoes and something other than jeans, a tracksuit and my new sneakers would do.

Next was personal grooming; morning shower, brushing my teeth, a clean shave. Nothing special, nothing luxurious. Grandfather had taught me how to shave in the contemporary way and his preferred way of doing it with a straight razor, sadly I did not bring my shaving kit and had to settle for a disposable set until I could find a suitable replacement, no shaving cream, no after shave. I could handle a razor unlike most folk my age and was skilled enough to avoid cutting myself or leaving stubble in any way.

Lastly, and my personal favorite step, breakfast. I had begun rising at the same hour as my grandparents and completing my morning routine swifter than either of them as to be able to make breakfast for the family. Nothing fancy just the standard American staple breakfast; bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, toast, small bowls of cereal, orange juice for Saoirse, coffee for myself and Finn.

By the time Finn and Saoirse had completed their own morning rituals breakfast was hot and ready on the table, today it was all set and done at six-o-five. It was still strange to me seeing my grandparents in their true youthful appearance, especially with their rather dated sense of fashion. I had no room to speak on such a matter, dressing the way I do, but I still found it odd. Seeing them come down the stairs ready for the day dressed like they had walked out of the television mid running of one of Grandfather's programs. Surreal did not begin to describe it.

Normally this would be the moment when Evian would come down and join us, but he did mention he wanted to sleep in today. A welcome reprieve from his morning zoo routine.

Finn and Saoirse seemed to appreciate my cooking and stopped fretting and trying to get me to not rise early and do morning chores. Morning pleasantries were exchanged, they complemented my cooking, we finished eating around six forty-five and I loaded the dishes into the washer. Normally I would clean them by hand but Saoirse said that if I neglected to use the dish washer that she had painstakingly researched and purchased after haggling it down to half off that I would know what it was to feel the fury of being dragged around the bay by an irate seal. Finn of course told me that I had better do what she said as she was not joking. Let it be known that beneath the sweetness and kindness of my grandmother that she was in fact quite frightening and fierce when she felt the need to be.

Rather than taking the school bus, my grandparents insisted that I be taken by car and that they would not lose business by opening up an hour later to drop off their grandson and neighbor. Mr. Hebert had been mighty appreciative when Finn and Saoirse offered to take Taylor to school along with me. He was doing better, stayed true to his forsaking of alcohol, had apparently been working far better than before and even managed to be home on time for once. He had mentioned that the longshoremen of Brockton Bay had recently gotten a large contract of work from some company by the name of Colossus Holdings Incorporated. They were moving their headquarters from New York to Brockton and would be purchasing the vast majority of the boat graveyard, the salvage rights to all the derelicts, and were working on a deal with the city regarding removing the tanker blocking the entrance to the bay. Mr. Hebert was rather excited and said that he'd be meeting with the company's vice president to finalize the deal. Granted, he also was very clearly nervous.

With all the morning routine and reminiscing aside, seven AM had arrived and thus began our journey to the supposed wretched hive of Winslow High School. Of course once Saoirse was reminded of where both Taylor and myself were going to school she would not stop being a mother-hen, even as we walked next door to pick Taylor up.

"I still do not understand why we couldn't have sent Walter to Immaculata." Saoirse had said as we waited on the Hebert's front porch.

"Saoirse you said that it was too expensive and that being taught by those crotchety old nuns and priests would have done more harm than being in a rough school like Winslow." Finn retorted with a chuckle

Comments like that were the norm of the conversation and I felt no need to interject or add anything. Taylor and Mr. Hebert had met us at the door within five minutes of our knocking, Taylor was wearing one of her dark outfits and Mr. Hebert was dressed in an old suit with his tie a tad bit too tight.

"Morning McCullough family!" Forced enthusiasm bled through a rather plastic nervous smile "Beautiful morning isn't it?"

Finn and Saoirse gave a quick and polite "Good morning" in response and continued their circular dialogue on the subject of one Winslow High.

"They appear to share your nerves sir." I said politely before addressing Taylor with a wave

"What?" Mr. Hebert's voice went up about an octave as he said that "Nerves? No, no nerves…"

Taylor gave her father a pat on the back

"Dad, you're gonna be fine. They said it was just a formality right?" she loosened his tie a bit and smoothed out the wrinkles on his shoulders "Just relax. You did great!"

Mr. Hebert did not in fact relax in the slightest. If anything he tensed up even more. Regardless he gave Taylor a hug, me a pat on the shoulder, and a handshake of gratitude to Finn and Saoirse as he walked over to his truck and began his journey to what would no doubt be a very stressful meeting for him.

Godspeed Mr. Hebert.

With that we went to our own car and began driving over to the infamous school and as we got closer and closer to the school, Saoirse grew more nervous

"Finn, please that school is dreadful and filled with street toughs!" Saoirse was practically pleading for Finn to concede and let her pull me from school at this point.

"Saoirse. Walter is not some kid from Mayberry and I think he could handle a few idiot thugs."
I warmly chuckled at how correct he was in his assumptions, Taylor's brows furrowed in confusion

"Mayberry?" She asked

"Where Andy Griffith took place." I replied with a grin

"What's Andy Griffith?"

"Old show."

Taylor shook her head at my laconic answers and fished for a topic other than Saoirse fretting or Finn trying to reassure her.

"So." she began with a somewhat reserved smile "That party was nice."

I leaned back into the seat and tried to get comfortable, letting out a grunt of agreement

"I still can't believe that Donnie actually committed to that bit he pulled."

We were three episodes into one of Lily's rider shows, this one was about aliens that could mimic humans and become extremely fast and the mysterious organization that fought them with an advanced insect themed technology. Lily had copied the wrong versions of the videos to the disc she had brought and they didn't have the English subtitles. Rather than switching to a new series or a movie, Rhodes had proceeded to do his own "dub" of it as we watched along.

"It was indeed surprising. If he ever became an actor I imagine he'd do rather well for himself." I replied "I'm more surprised that Lily played along and joined in."

"What was that one line that she said?" Taylor struck a pose similar to the one of the protagonist from the show "I think it went like 'There are two things a man must never do; one is to not make girls cry, the other is to mishandle food! Clock-Up!' waa-cha!"

Taylor's enthusiasm was rather refreshing, and seeing her smile so widely sparked my own smile, even if it was nowhere near as warm as hers.

"Any parahumans like those Masked Riders?" I asked as she shadow boxed

"I think Velocity can maybe hit the same speed as clocking up." There was a fire in her eyes when she said it, it seemed the gears in her head were turning. "But I don't think he can act the same way."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean it'd be pretty awesome if he could." Her smile weakened and her eyes grew concerned "Just hit super speed and clean up the bay in half an hour. Dunno how you'd be able to stop that though, kinda refreshing that he can't."

"Why's that?" Curiosity getting the better of me.

"Well, if he ever went villain not much would be able to stop him." Taylor's eyes widened in shock and she began stammering out a self correction "I mean, he wouldn't because he's a hero, obviously. Just, if he ever got Mastered or something with the Simurgh happened that they didn't catch or…"

"General 'Who Watches the Watchmen' things?"

"Yeah…"

Reminded me of a story that Evian told me, one that didn't have me telling him to shut up for once.

"You know the ancient god-kings of Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danaan, had a solution to this?"

"Oh?"

"Yes. To provide a counter to anyone with power in their lands, including themselves, those with power would be put under a geas. It was gift, curse, oath or vow, and a taboo all in one. A rule that they either had to follow or were magically compelled to follow or all of their power would leave them and they would be forever dishonored. For instance the warrior Cú Chulainn had two; he couldn't refuse a meal offered to him and he was to never eat the meat of a dog. Guess how his enemies weakened him?"

Taylor chuckled and gave me a pointed look

"They tricked him into eating dog meat. The solution to 'if a Hero turns bad' is magic." She shook her head and smirked "Great solution Walt, I'll be sure to get Gandalf on the phone to help in the event of rogue Heroes."

I held up my hands and let out my own amused chuckle "Hey, whatever works right?"

"Heads up, we're here kids." Finn broke up Taylor and I's conversation and pointed out the school to us as he pulled up to the drop off curb.

I looked out the window to see my new school, as far as first impressions go this school made a poor one. Three floors of a poor man's imitation of brutalism, evoking feelings of pathetic surrender rather than oppressive monument surrounded by accelerated urban decay. First bell rings at eight in the morning, we got here at seven twenty-five and aside from what I would assume to be the vehicles of faculty and staff the whole place was empty. It was very clear that nobody wanted to be here longer than they had to.

As Taylor and I got out of the car Saoirse got out to give us both a hug and Finn handed me a notecard.

"Principle's instructions for you when you arrive." he told me "Also hold still a moment you two, Saoirse has something she wants to get a picture of you two."

Oh god no.

Before either Taylor and I could get word in the contrary, Saoirse had pulled out an old Polaroid camera and had us pose for the shot. Taylor was a good sport about it and fake waved to the camera, I made my displeasure clear with a grimace. Saoirse gave me one last hug before giving me some parting words

"Be careful, Walter." She said

"Always am." I replied honestly

"Don't get hurt."

"I'll try to avoid it." Again with utter honesty.

"Don't hurt anybody too badly if they get rough."

"Well…" I started, not able to bring myself to lie. "…if you insist."

And with that Finn and Saoirse said goodbye to us and drove off to work.

I read the notecard's instructions aloud

• Head to the main office
• Speak with the secretary
• Take your locker number and lock as well as your class itinerary
• Itinerary is final and cannot be changed.

I turned over to Taylor and asked "Know where the main office is?"

Taylor let out a rather un-enthused sigh "Unfortunately. Follow me."

The inside of the school did not change the impression gathered from the exterior. The floor was in a state of neglect with missing tiles, stains from god knows what, ancient lockers in various states of disrepair or vandalism, fluorescent bulbs flickering and on the cusp of going out. I'm reasonably sure I saw one of the teachers drinking from a hip flask as we passed by. When we reached the door to the administration office we had to be buzzed in from a heavy security door that was on its last legs and clearly didn't actually lock properly. The secretary was a rather miserable and angry looking woman in her forties, clothes long out of style, hair barely in a professional bun, and a mountain of disheveled paperwork strewn about the corner of her desk while the office phone kept ringing.

"More accusations? It's not even first period." The secretary snapped between bites of a danish and with a harsh glare to Taylor "Whatever it is can wait till after school Ms. Hebert."

"Actually ma'am." I said making sure to match the secretary's venom. "Taylor was helping me find my way here, I'm a new student."

The secretary looked me up and down and gave me some more side eye, I glared in return.

"One moment please." she said, picking up and then immediately hanging up the office phone. "Not even when the rest of you fucking animals show up and I already have phone calls…"

The secretary typed away at her outdated keyboard, printed out something, and pulled out a combination padlock from an old file drawer.

"Your locker number is zero-zero-three, this is your lock, if it is lost or stolen you will be asked to pay for the replacement." The receptionist droned on "Here is your class schedule, first period is at eight AM sharp. You will get your school books as you go to class and meet your teachers."

The receptionist resumed whatever she was doing, although I doubt it was actually work. I looked over to Taylor, she was getting rather grim and irate.

"Any idea where locker #003 is?" I asked

"Yeah, it's actually not that-"

Taylor was cut off with a rather obnoxious and loud clearing of the throat from the secretary. I looked over to her and found her attempting to glare daggers towards us.

"If you don't mind, there are adults in the middle of some rather important work and they shouldn't be disturbed."

I scoffed "Really? Then you'd better leave quickly, you're rather disturbing with that poor makeup job."

It wasn't the strongest come back, nor was it classy by any means but I didn't regret saying it. The secretary became rather incensed and she responded with ill concealed hatred.

"Alright, fuck off kid. Before I have you dragged out of here."

With that we left the office to continue our conversation.

"I take it the principle is no better?" I asked Taylor while looking over my schedule.

"Nope, it's bitches all the way down in that office." she sighed out in frustration. "Where was I?"

"You were telling me about where my locker was."

"Right." She walked ahead and waved me over to follow her "It's actually not that far."

Eyeing the clock as we walked, I only caught sight of one that worked and it said seven forty-five. Locker #003 was in the middle of the crossroads of the first floor hugging the left hand wall. It was also one of the few lockers with no visible signs of vandalism to my surprise. A few students were making their way in, none of them were in any way remarkable and all seemed to blend in together.

"Where's your locker if you don't mind me asking?"

"Around the corner there. #108." Taylor pointed down the hall towards the rear of the school "Who do you have for first period?"

I tried to open the locker, finding the latch mechanism was sticking and not quite opening. I'd have to bring some WD-40 if this problem persists.

"Gladly. What the hell kind of name is Gladly?" I stated with a roll of my eyes "Know what he's like by chance?"

As I spent about three minutes trying to get my locker open, Taylor painted a picture of a young and new teacher that was trying to relive the glory days he had in high school and college by being the "cool" teacher and was utterly devoid of any talent as an eduator. Or at the very least that was the conclusion I came to.

"Great." I said with a swift yank of the door finally breaking whatever seal was inside the latch and breaking off what appeared to be dried adhesive in the locker's doorframe.

When the door swung open, the stench of dust and rot came free, the vents of the locker were sealed shut with duct tape and cling wrap over a few sheets of paper in layers. I tore the seal off the vents and looked to the floor of the locker finding a dessicated and long dead rat. A few of the students that were passing by chuckled and the few that I could see out of my peripherals were pointing and whispering to their friends. I grabbed the dead rat in the remnants of the seal and looked over to Taylor.

"Well, Winslow seems to know how to make new students feel welcome."

"Only gets worse from here, cowboy." she said with a pained smile "I'm gonna head over to my locker. Catch you passing period?"

I nodded my head towards the trash in hand "Yeah, I'm gonna dump this in the trash and wash my hands. Catch you later."

Taylor waved goodbye and made way to her locker, I locked the impromptu rat morgue that was my own and made my way to a men's room that I had passed. Along my way I spotted Rhodes' stalker passing by with some red haired girl. Both of which looked rather smug but the stalker girl was directing the smug smile to me specifically, I merely looked on ahead and brushed her off. I found my way to that men's room and discarded the seal and corpse within the lone trash bin. Although the bathroom was covered in graffiti and the windows were scratched all to hell, I could at least say the soap dispensers at least had soap and the water actually warmed at a decent speed. They may be thugs and scoundrels but they at least knew basic cleanliness.

As I washed my hands the stall immediately to my rear opened up, although the occupant made no noise indicating he was moving. I looked up from my lather to look into the scratched mirror, finding a rather irate boy of the Asian persuasion, looked familiar too. I looked back down and rinsed off my soapy hands, the boy left in a hurry, and then I got to drying my hands. Despite not quite feeling the need to, I figured that I should relieve myself while I was here.

In other words I pissed and then rewashed my hands. I had the time and coffee makes you piss.

By the time I had finished drying my hands a second time, the door to the bathroom opened and the sounds of many footsteps filled the cramped space. I looked over to see the irate boy from earlier with a group of other Asian boys in red and green.

I tossed the paper towels I used into the trash bin and faced the group.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" I said casually

A few of the gangers stood aside and in walked a familiar face, granted this face was heavily swollen and covered in bandages. The Fat One from the other night, one of the three that had tried to assault that Madison girl the hand I had slammed the dumpster lid on was in a cast and he was cradling his massive gut.

"This him Big Lo?" the boy from earlier asked

So lard ass had a cute little nickname. Good for him. The fat bastard nodded and then the boy stepped forward.

"You sent Big Lo, Shin, and my brother Cheng to the ER two nights ago, guai lo!"

I looked him dead into his burning eyes

"Yes, and?"

The boy's anger grew and he had his right hand in his coat pocket, grasping something tightly.

"Shin's not here because he needed fuckin' skin grafts." He spat with rage "My brother, he may never leave the hospital. You put him in a fuckin' coma!"

"And?" My eyes never left his

The boy pulled out a knife in a lacquered scabbard decorated with flowering branches. Old and eastern in design, either Korean or Japanese. The boy pulled out the blade and dropped the scabbard, the sound of the wood echoing in the bathroom. A few of his "friends" tensed up in fear, a few even looked surprised. Lard Ass, Big Lo gulped.

"You best make your next three steps count boy." was my reply, a cold rage bringing the words unbidden from my mind. "Otherwise you may just join your idiot brother."

The boy took exception to my words and charged in with that knife of his like a reckless idiot, even someone with only a few lessons in Grandfather's own personal "Art of Asskicking" and it all was the kind of things he would use when he was County Sheriff including dealing with people with knives who didn't know how to use em. He lunged forward with the knife, overextending and leaving enough room for me to sidestep even in a cramped a space as this. I shoved the off balance idiot into the wall and went to kick him.

One of those ABB boys kicked my knee from behind, knocking me off balance and on to the floor. Before I could recover, the boy with the knife scrambled on top of me and started bashing my face in. I blocked a few of his hammer blows, boy had anger but had no power behind his strikes and I could barely feel them.

I spotted an opening from his flailing and took it, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing as tight as I could. The attempted beating stopped and a few of his friends gasped in shock, as I squeezed what precious little oxygen from his throat out my other hand was freed and I started doubling with my grip.

One of this wretch's friends came up and kicked me in the nuts, the sharp pain coming so swiftly that I let go of that neck. The boy recovered faster than he had any right to and plunged that old knife into my chest. I felt the warm redness flee from the wound as the blade left me, and before I could make my counter the boy plunged the knife into me again and again.

With every stab I felt my life's breath cut short, the precious water of life within me staining both the steel of the blade and the worn tiles beneath me. As the boy screamed and wailed, his friends tried to pry him off of me but the boy stabbed with further ferocity, his eyes were locked with mine. As he saw my vision fade, the fires of hate only grew hotter within the boy. My strength left me, not even enough to keep my eyes open. I heard a panicked cacophony of voices and soon felt myself dragged into and propped up in one of the stalls. Soon the cacophony ended and was met only with silence and I felt myself once again fading.

This was no dream, and I would not wake with my wounds gone. I was dying. Soon I heard a familiar a Boston accented and frantic voice tell me

"Hang in there kid! Help's here!"

Then I felt nothing. No pain, no coldness, nothing.

I opened my eyes, my strength seemingly returned to me.

A familiar sight greeted me; an old and grand hall with a large bowl of blue fire in the center of the room. What seemed like countless battle standards, banners, and shields of many cultures and armies bedecking the walls and rafters. Several long oaken tables with faded silhouettes of soldiers and warriors from as many different cultures as the ornaments upon the wall sitting at them and all looking at me. Towards the rear of the hall on a raised platform were two thrones. Upon one of the thrones was a man wearing an old duster, his boots black as night, a bare skull mask that devoured any and all light trying to enter its sockets, and on his brow a crown of shattered bones bound by thorns. On the opposite throne was a woman in a long and flowing dark green dress more appropriate of spring or summer, her face obscured by a veil of mourning or wedding, her hair long, wavy, and a vibrant red.

They rose from their thrones, the silhouettes of the crowd bowed their heads, and soon the couple came down the platforms steps arm in arm towards me and I dared not move. As they walked, the woman's bare feet sprouted lush spring flowers and grass with her every step and the man's footsteps frosted them over as they walked.

As they approached, the man took his free hand and began removing his mask, the woman using her free hand to lift her veil. The man's face was almost exactly like my own, barring the shape of his nose and the color of his eyes. The woman's eyes were the same shade of blue as my own, and her eyes danced with joy and mischief

The man was Eric Connolly, the woman was Doreen McCullough, my parents.

As they walked closer, I saw their faces split open into warm and caring smiles.

I dared not move, thinking that any movement would reveal this all to be an illusion.

"Mother? Father?" I asked, no other words coming forth

Their smiles grew wider and then they embraced me, which I returned with equal warmth and affection. I imagine if I could cry, tears would be flowing freely.

I pulled out of the embrace and asked them "Are you here to take me?"

My father laughed heartily and patted my back.

"Don't worry son." He said with a dark voice filled with purpose and authority "We ain't taking you to the hereafter just yet, not your time."

"Then…" I said, my words not quite able to flow as well as usual "…where are we?"

"You're in one of your father's Sanctums. Or at the very least, your soul has been stopped here." My mother said with voice smooth as silk and spiced with mischief. "Your body is still in Winslow, you'd be bleeding to death had Evian neglected his duties."

"The cat? He followed me to school?" I asked

Mother embraced me again and said "I ordered him to, my son."

Father placed a hand on my shoulder and said "While Evian's working some magic on his end, your mother is working some off your soul on our end."

Mother licked her fingers and smoothed out my admittedly tussled hair as she said "We brought your soul here to grant you your Birthright, or at the very least some of it."

"What are you saying?" I asked "How is any of this possible?"

Father and Mother exchanged a look, Father speaking first.

"We're gods son and you are our Scion, a demigod in the making."

No words left my mouth, no matter how many times it opened. Confusion furrowed my brows, a torrent of questions crowding my thoughts.

"I am Erikaer Helson, God of Death, Patron of the American West, gunslingers, and cowboys."

I looked over to my mother

"I am Dawn, Goddess of Dreams, Patron of North American Witches." Her smile grew wider and her eyes shone, her hands smoothing out the wrinkles of my ruined jacket

"I have so many questions…" I said, my voice still filled with shock and almost disbelief.

"Sadly we don't have much time, son." Father said "Right now all we can do is awaken the Ichor in your blood."

Mother stopped adjusting my clothes and gestured for me to look at her

"We will return to you in the future, along with the rest of your Birthright." she said, once again embracing me "Right now you must return, you swore an oath to someone and they are in dire peril."

Behind me, in the distance I heard a quiet voice begging for help, along with the voice of Evian

"Come on kid wake up!" I could hear faintly

Soon the heavy doors of the hall swung open and a breeze began pulling at me trying to pry me away from my parents.

"Go forth, my son." I could hear my mother's voice clear over the rapidly howling winds "We will meet again."

Soon the howling wind violently threw me from my feet and I felt myself fall back to earth with a violent jerk.

When I opened my eyes, Evian was on my chest his feline mouth puckered up in a kiss. Despite the aching sensation all over me I shoved him to the tile floor and stumbled my way out of the stall ignoring the cat's cries of surprise and relief.

Checking myself in the mirror, the front of my jacket was caked with drying blood and my once pristine white shirt was now stained red, my pants and boots were somehow spared. I lifted up my ruined shirt and saw that boy's handiwork. While the stab wounds were no longer bleeding, they had not fully healed although somehow I could tell that they were closing much faster than what was normal. Even for someone who normally healed fast like me.

Then, my senses were bombarded by cruel cacophony. I could hear the plumbing shift and flow, chalk on chalkboards, markers on whiteboard, pens and pencil scraping at paper, everyone speaking at once their saliva slithering about and their teeth colliding with each other as they chewed and spoke. Most distressing of all was a girl calling for help in a cramped and tight space, her voice muffled by a foul viscera and countless crawling and buzzing insects.

The cacophony was greater and more painful then even the many stabs to the chest, or even being shot through the heart. I tried to block out the sound with my hands, but to no avail. I punched the mirror in front of me, I stumbled against the wall. I slammed my head into the tiled wall, feeling it crack and feeling no pain as I did so.

"Calm down kid!" I could hear Evian say, his voice clear over the cacophony. "Focus on my voice. Just focus on what I'm saying."

Evian's voice guided me, the focus helping drown out the cacophony. Soon my sense were back to normal although I could still hear that girl in the viscera. I stopped focusing on Evian and began focusing on the girl. I don't know how, but I felt as if I knew exactly where I could find her.

Ignoring Evian once more, I staggered to my feet and rushed out of the bathroom stall. As I opened the door, the sun was directly shining in to the windows of the school and the clock on the wall in front of me, was ticking away with its hands showing 2:30 PM.

"Almost seven hours…" I said aloud

"Yeah kid, I've been trying to keep you alive while you were off with your ma and pa. I panicked and put a glamour over the bathroom!"

The girl's voice was fading, I could hear her breathing grow more shallow and ragged, her voice sobbing.

"Walt…"

No.

Not her….

I stumbled forward, trying to run as fast as I could to the rear of the school, the girl's voice becoming somewhat louder. When I reached that corner of the rear of the school, I counted the lockers.

#108, Taylor's locker was rumbling and at the base of the locker was a puddle of rotten liquids. I could see from where I stood that the lock was engaged and I would not have the strength to yank it open.

"Please…" I heard her plead "…somebody, anybody, help me!"

I sprinted away, my eyes scanning the walls for any sign of a maintenance closet. A few of the students and staff that were in the hall looked upon my frantic search with distress and fear, I paid them no mind and continued, eventually finding my quarry.

A janitor's closet with an old wooden door and doorframe, I could see the parts of the door that were beginning to rot. Somehow.

I gave the door's weak spots a test push then walked back to get a running start for my kick.

"Young man!" I heard a teacher frantically shout "Young man I need you to stop what you're doing-"

I ignored him and charged forward and booted down the door clean off it's hinges.

I tossed the ruined door aside, and spotted a pair of bolt cutters, fresh out of the packaging.

The teacher that tried to get my attention, a young one shorter than me. Like a kid trying on one of his father's suits. Once again I ignored him and took the bolt cutters. The teacher put a hand on my shoulder and tried to tell me to stop.

I did not have time for this nonsense

I swung the bolt cutters flat across the right side of his face and into the wall, the crowd that was gathering gasped in shock.

I rushed back to Locker #108, as I rounded the corner Rhodes' stalker was leaning against my own locker. Her eyes filled with dark and grim satisfaction and her mouth turned upwards in a smug and sadistic grin.
I ignored her and pressed on, quickly taking the bolt cutters and breaking open the padlock. I tossed the bolt cutters aside and began working open the door and soon….

Taylor Hebert, covered in gore and insects came out, hanging on by a thread.

I held her close and cradled her to my chest, looking over to the now gathered crowd their phones in their hands recording.

My gaze grew fierce and I spat out the last words I would say today.

"Call a fucking ambulance!"

Spoiler: Author's Note

Yup. Long time coming. 2.2 is gonna be shorter. Lemme know how I did. This was not an easy write. Have a good one.

Spoiler: Edit

Fixed some typos and formatting issues. Edited again on 11/8/2020 after Thamerlin over in the SpaceBattles thread pointed out quite a few typos. They also mentioned some punctuation errors howver I have yet to change them.

 

[Ryan Lozano]

Oh he's going to find that ABB boy and he's dead please do it next chapter

 

[Gladiusone]

Okay, so two divine parents, both of them OCs? Interesting direction.

 

[BrotherMouse518]

Okay, so two divine parents, both of them OCs? Interesting direction.

Click to shrink...

He is the only one of the band that ia a Second Gen Scion, he gets nothing special whatsoever from it aside from my house rules on being born of two gods; being the choice of any of their callings at chargen and nothing else. Being the child of two different patheons provides NO benefit at all and he only counts as one or the other.

Spoiler

He takes after his mother who is Tuatha. He only inherited his looks from his dad

Eric/Erikaer was the prototype for Walt and the first Scion Second Edition character I played. Not sure if I posted it here, but I talked about how originally it would have been Eric Connolly/Erikaer Helson as the main OC protagonist. Sadly that idea was dropped on account of how I built him. Which was an edgy 90s anti hero that took a sick glee in breaking the bones if his foes. I honestly thought of making an NSFW (more for gore then sex since i cant really write erotica on account of being inexperienced and not wanting to wing it) QQ/Ao3 exclusive fic based on the original idea.

Doreen/Dawn is heavily inspired by the comic book character Dawn. Who was the goddess of life and rebirth, patron goddess of magic and the lover of Cernuunos who in the comic is a god of death and looked kinda like how I pictured Eric as if he were to ever take over rulership of Helheim.

As for why both parents being gods?

I honestly didnt want to have Walt's mother be the one who raised him but I didnt want to have her die in childbirth, be a deadbeat, or otherwise. So she too is an ascended Scion. Congrats kid aint you special.

Yeah, Walt's entire.design process was a frenzied mess fueled by energy drinks and stress.