The big picture

[eyalfein]

An idea, guideline to the 'big conspiracy', makes it a bit more reliable.

Why is the 'our' dimension, Earth and the known universe is being so important? why the great armies of minions have not taken this puny world by now?

The reason is that it is being protected by some dark lords.

Not as a gesture of goodwill, of course.

Earth, with it's limited resources (suffering, agony and other life energy that the dark ones feed upon) is still a big prize, and some dark lords are willing to work hard to keep it for themselves, preserve their cattle for long time, and consume it slowly.

I think that the dark bunch responsible for this would be the ET's.
They started the whole thing, and they have the corps and governments under they control.


That would be the cover story for the MIB minions. You better have some of your own to protect your interests from rival dark lords.
MIB's seem human, they have official authority, they destroy monsters and close portals - are they good guys? a nice way to confuse your players


p.s. I must admit that I have most of my DC books elsewhere, including DC2 and the monstrous comp, so I might have missed something there. (getting it tomorrow, hopefully).

[Linden]

I think that the dark bunch responsible for this would be the ET's.
They started the whole thing, and they have the corps and governments under they control.

Isn't something controlling the ETs though? Presumably whatever they found behind the gate on Io. Maybe it migrated to Earth and is now having a jolly good time making a mess of the place. Rather like a fat kid left alone in a sweet shop. Obviously he doesn't want anyone else coming in and nicking all the mint humbugs.

[eyalfein]

Exactly, whatever the ET's found behind the gate, they are now working on his behalf.

Since that gate was sealed, the entity behind it has probably been here in the past and was banished, it is not a newcomer.

[Zvezda]

Was empathy always active in DC or has it been reanimated as in Shadow Run? Probably this could help in that particular Background for DC. Maybe that dark lord is even responsible for humans beeign able to use arcane powers.

[eyalfein]

Maybe the opposite - whatever sealed all the portals and the one in io has also taken EMP from humanity?

Empathy was a major aspect of DC from the first rulebook.

[Zvezda]

Nice one! It is going to become more interesting. I can not remember everything stated about the background of Empathy in the core rules, I am not sure if there was much about the history in the EMP handbook. I like the idea of dark ones fighting other dark ones. With the PC believing that one is better than the others.

[eyalfein]

How about that 'essence of suffering' which the dark ones feed upon? maybe it is also the reasons why EMP was surpressed in humanity?

As if this potential energy that could be developed into EMP power, that each individual stores, is being diverted into some sort of soul food for the dark ones, and that's why EMP is still being kept a secret and maybe even attracts hostile approach from pro-dark corps and authorities.

going a bit away from the original post, I declare this a brainstorming discussion

[Zvezda]

The idea as such is very good. Maybe I'll use that for my campaign but I doubt that my players will find out.

[anthraxus]

How about that 'essence of suffering' which the dark ones feed upon? maybe it is also the reasons why EMP was surpressed in humanity?

As if this potential energy that could be developed into EMP power, that each individual stores, is being diverted into some sort of soul food for the dark ones, and that's why EMP is still being kept a secret and maybe even attracts hostile approach from pro-dark corps and authorities.

going a bit away from the original post, I declare this a brainstorming discussion

Or on a similar vein, the degree of human EMP is directly proportional to the amount of 'essence' that is being generated.

[Zvezda]

So the more emp, the tastier the humie would be? Would that mean that darklings would go for the one with the highest EMP first?

[Morthrai]

So the more emp, the tastier the humie would be? Would that mean that darklings would go for the one with the highest EMP first?

I would say yes, but it would be more likely that they would use the best empaths brains in their biological DarkTek computers and devices. Norm once submitted a DarkTek weapon called the Braser that used the brains of empaths as ammunition
It's not always a good thing being psychic!

[anthraxus]

So the more emp, the tastier the humie would be? Would that mean that darklings would go for the one with the highest EMP first?

Yes, and as the Dark Masters orchestrated the creation of more "sufferring essence", more people with empathic powers would come to be as our universes natural resistance to the Dark Invasion. Empaths would basically be the white blood cells of the universe.

[Zvezda]

So most of you agree that the center of the human empathy is the brain? I can remember the weapon it was quite evil.

[Paul Mann III]

The real question is;

Are all the ET's under Daemon control, or is the world FUBAR half because of the Dark Ones controlling the ET's and half because the ET's had it in for Earth from the start?

[Linden]

The real question is;

Are all the ET's under Daemon control, or is the world FUBAR half because of the Dark Ones controlling the ET's and half because the ET's had it in for Earth from the start?

I think the official answer is the former, but...it doesn't have to be. The game is flexible enough for the GM to have their own big picture.

I was never that keen on the big-mothership-crewed-by-four-races backstory. I find it difficult to believe that the insectoid and tentacular ETs would be particularly friendly to humans, even before they became possessed/went mad. They just seem too different and well, alien.

I might be inclined to keep the Greys as good ETs gone bad, but have the tentacular and insectoids as their competitors, rather than original allies. They're not necessarily controlled by the Dark Ones, they're interested in conquering Earth solely because they're aggressive species (and in the case of the insectoids want to eat us).

Energy ETs strike me as completely enigmatic. I think they'd be the mystery creatures in my campaign if I could find a way to satisfactorily integrate them.