Capes and Cowls Forum

You may have noticed how on the front page of this site there is a brief story about a day in Conflagrants life in Paragon City.  When I made this site I was hoping that other creatively minded folk would want to do similar. 

Conflagrant being a doorman sort of made sense to me...  Maybe your scrapper is a bodyguard when not heroing...your empathy defender is a Doctor or nurse?  What about your villains too?   Do they only rob banks, or do they do other stuff?  You get the picture anyway. 

So here is your chance at immortality Foxbasers, well sort of...! ;P

Read the story and have a think about how something similar could be done for your character.  Get 3-6 good quality images together and write about 300-500 words and post them here.  I will put them up on the main site for the world to see, assuming images are ok and the story makes sense. 

It would help enormously if the story is in good English, but I will try and co-opt my girlfriend to edit them if it isn't!  (My English isn't brill either!)  ;D

The images don't have to be cropped and what have you (a screenie in a decent resolution would do), as I can do this in PhotoShop if you don't have that program.  All that I ask is that they are larger than 800x600 if uncropped, or larger than 200 square if not.

Post your story here in this thread along with the images and I will put them up on the main pages, assuming they are good quality.  Your story will feature on the main page until the next player writes his story and so on. 

I cannot offer you payment for this as I am a student myself, but I can offer you fame!  All contributors whose stories are listed will be aknowledged in the story itself (call it a writers credit!)  and I will alter your forum profile to show that you are a contributor to this site.

Please include in your post your chosen authors name, else I will use your forum nickname. 

Lastly, this may sound obvious, but please make sure anything you post is your own work.

There was once a young natural girl, who enjoyed playing with purple things.  She walked down blackcurrant lane, which was her favourite lane, because the colour of blackcurrants is purple! (much to the confusion of this certain young child at the earlier ages as black is not purple.  She knows this because once a man tried to poke her with a black pencil.  Vanessa didn't like black things, and as such she stabbed it through his eye.) She liked blackcurrants though, they were a totally different concept.  At the end of Blackcurrant lane she discovered a purple apple pie! This confused her senses, the purple told her to eat it... But her mind told her "Apples are Green! They're Mutant I tell thee Scurvy Knave!" Her mind told her this because he is a pirate-knight mind, and enjoys calling people Scurvy Knaves!  She decided to ignore the alternate personality in her head and ate the small pie.  Resulting in a strange glow.  At this point the mighty Vapid ran past and disassembled the stupid girl with her katana.
---
Dilvish woke up from a nightmare within which he dreamt a stupid little girl with an obsession for purple things got stabbed by a mighty Katana/Dark scrapper (level 16) (( at this point in time, I can't be arsed editing that every time I level )).  He saw a flashing light in the distance... He hated alarm clocks... especially when they read... "WHAT? 5AM? 5 doesn't come in an AM form."  Dilvish (as he had become known through his whirling powers of mind-control) was pretty certain of this.  So he convinced the alarm clock (Using his superior mind-control techniques) that he wanted to commit suicide.  It promptly jumped out a 7th story window.  Following this silly exercise of the mind, Dilvish was awoken again, this time by a strange buzzing noise.  Dilvish muttered to himself as he practiced his insecta-suicide spell, (A spell which he developed to give him quiet nights alone.  The technique was very difficult, but in the end resulted in the pesky-pest commiting suicide.) He practiced the magical incantation - "frack OFF YOU frackING FLY, DO I WANT TO BE frackING AWOKEN AT (at this point he goes to check his alarm clock, but to his distress it is missing) THIS TIME IN THE MORNING! YOU'RE A FLY, YOU EAT SHIT! YOU LIVE IN A BIN! YOU'RE LOWER LIFE THAN CONFLAGRANTS UNBORN CHILD!"  At this point the fly feels so low he jumps out a seventh story window.  Dilvish then returns to his quiet nights sleep.
---
As Impurities awoke from Conflagrants wild level 50 party, she promptly looked at her surroundings... "Ah... another set of dustbins".  Living had been hard for Impurities after the COCK (council of organised crime killers) (( reaching that name was a very entertaining situation and went something like this...

"Sir we have to name our organisation."
"How about... the council for light infantry tormenting old retarded individuals socially?"
"Well yes sir... thats all well and good, except it abbreviates to Clitoris..."
"Hmm.. how about the Council of Operation, navigating forests, lakes, air and grass, realising the apparant nature in true superheroes!"
"Well yes sir... thats all well and good, except it abbreviates to conflagrant... and then no one would join."
"hmm you're right... how about the Council of organised crime killers?"
"Sounds good to me."

After the COCK had kicked her from her comfortable 7th story apartment.  Apparantly reaching level 50 wasn't enough, now she had to be fused with one of those stupid kheldian types.  Another voice in her head she had to deal with.  "Stop that", "Stop what?", "Putting kheldians down like that", "you just wait till I get a quantum gun..."...

Anyway, she took in her surroundings and saw an apartment abother her.  "Oh... its where I used to live... whats that strange object falling out the top window..."

at this point an alarm clock, closely followed by a very depressed fly landed on her head and put her back into her state of perpetual sleep...
---

The End =P

I could do more, but I can't be bothered to do it for Toons outside of foxbase x]

...Does it have to be five hundred words long max? I don't think I have anything that short....^_^;;;

Well the object is for people to read what has been written.  Normally keeping it short is better than an online version of War and Peace.    ;)

Not everyone has an interest in this area of the game anyway (roleplaying and backstory), so I guess I am trying to tread the middle ground.  A bit short for the die-heard rpg'ers and a bit long for the people that think CoH is Doom with capes!  ;)

The guidlines I listed were meant to be just that - guidelines.  This isn't a school essay.  lol.

I do however notice that a certain person *coughDilvishcough* has managed to wander into territory that I would rather not go.  My aim for this site is to alienate as few people as possible and I guess that includes your aged grandmother...   ;D

The swear filter got a few but ... well I am tired at the moment and I will have a think about how far into the realm of adult entertainment I wish the site to go.  (Probably not far)

There was once a young natural girl, who enjoyed playing with purple things.  She walked down blackcurrant lane, which was her favourite lane, because the colour of blackcurrants is purple! (much to the confusion of this certain young child at the earlier ages as black is not purple.  She knows this because once a man tried to poke her with a black pencil.  Vanessa didn't like black things, and as such she stabbed it through his eye.) She liked blackcurrants though, they were a totally different concept.  At the end of Blackcurrant lane she discovered a purple apple pie! This confused her senses, the purple told her to eat it... But her mind told her "Apples are Green! They're Mutant I tell thee Scurvy Knave!" Her mind told her this because he is a pirate-knight mind, and enjoys calling people Scurvy Knaves!  She decided to ignore the alternate personality in her head and ate the small pie.  Resulting in a strange glow.  At this point the mighty Vapid ran past and disassembled the stupid girl with her katana.
---
Dilvish woke up from a nightmare within which he dreamt a stupid little girl with an obsession for purple things got stabbed by a mighty Katana/Dark scrapper (level 16) (( at this point in time, I can't be arsed editing that every time I level )).  He saw a flashing light in the distance... He hated alarm clocks... especially when they read... "WHAT? 5AM? 5 doesn't come in an AM form."  Dilvish (as he had become known through his whirling powers of mind-control) was pretty certain of this.  So he convinced the alarm clock (Using his superior mind-control techniques) that he wanted to commit suicide.  It promptly jumped out a 7th story window.  Following this silly exercise of the mind, Dilvish was awoken again, this time by a strange buzzing noise.  Dilvish muttered to himself as he practiced his insecta-suicide spell, (A spell which he developed to give him quiet nights alone.  The technique was very difficult, but in the end resulted in the pesky-pest commiting suicide.) He practiced the magical incantation - "frack OFF YOU frackING FLY, DO I WANT TO BE frackING AWOKEN AT (at this point he goes to check his alarm clock, but to his distress it is missing) THIS TIME IN THE MORNING! YOU'RE A FLY, YOU EAT poo... YOU LIVE IN A BIN! YOU'RE LOWER LIFE THAN IMPURITIES UNBORN CHILD!"  At this point the fly feels so low he jumps out a seventh story window.  Dilvish then returns to his quiet nights sleep.
---
As Impurities awoke from Conflagrants wild level 50 party, she promptly looked at her surroundings... "Ah... another set of dustbins".  Living had been hard for Impurities after the Council of Organised Crime Killers (( reaching that name was a very entertaining situation and went something like this...

"Sir we have to name our organisation"
"Hmm.. how about the Council of Operation, navigating forests, lakes, air and grass, realising the apparant nature in true superheroes!"
"Well yes sir... thats all well and good, except it abbreviates to conflagrant... and then no one would join."
"hmm you're right... how about the Council of organised crime killers?"
"Sounds good to me."

The Council for Organised Crime Killers had kicked her from her comfortable 7th story apartment.  Apparantly reaching level 50 wasn't enough, they now wanter her to be fused with one of those stupid kheldian types.  Another voice in her head she had to deal with.  "Stop that", "Stop what?", "Putting kheldians down like that", "you just wait till I get a quantum gun..."...

Anyway, she took in her surroundings and saw an apartment above her.  "Oh... its where I used to live... whats that strange object falling out the top window..."

at this point an alarm clock, closely followed by a very depressed fly landed on her head and put her back into her state of perpetual sleep...
---

The End =P

I could do more, but I can't be bothered to do it for Toons outside of foxbase x]

OMG! I laughed the first time I read Vapid's bio, the second time it thoroughly cracked me up.

=P The second one is the "user-friendly" version, Conflagrant assures me he'll delete the first one =P

it was 2am and there was a fly, thats my excuse for that little interlude =]

The young natural girl line just reads like something from a 70's blue movie.

OK Dil, thanks for being a good sport about it.  You get your way (with the second version  :P ) and I will put it up as soon as you supply a few pics of your choice. 

Pics helps break up large blocks of text for the reading impaired...sort of like the Sun really!   ;)

Unless you really want the first one deleted I will leave it up on the forums as guide of what NOT to write!   ;D 

When you post your pics please tell me your decision.

I'm really rather tempted to delete it =] as it just shows what I'm like in a bad mood ;D

Love the bio dil very very funny the first version is the funniest tho

As the smell hit her Double Tap couldn't help grinding he teeth and muttering about never being meant for motherhood. She entered the living room and began to clean up the mess. The kitchen was even worse, piles of unwashed glasses and not one but five garbage bags but five just lying on the floor emitting that horrible stench.

Wondering if the neighbours had been disturbed by the odeurs she opened all the windows in her four room appartment hoping the would diminish the sickness building up in her stomach. Now bare in mind that Double Tap wasn't some weakstomached girl, she'd eaten golden cans, fought fungis and been barfed on by an embalmed one in her time. But the leftover beercans and pizza had probably been piling up for the three weeks she'd been gone saving the Terra Volta reactor, an thus was nearly insufferable.

At least Taloned Falconette had put the beer cans in paper bags until she ran out of bags (wich she apparently did some 300 cans ago). After pushing pizza cartoons and leftovers with the remaining beercans into large plastic garbage bags she normally used to water proof her backpack with she then proceeded to load the bags into the two elevators. Sending them down to the basement she took the stairs. There she filled up the garbage room with her adopted daughter's trash. At this point she had built up quite a lot of anger toward that beerlout of a teenager who would get the beratment of her young life when she got home.

After having washed the dishes, vacumed the floor, scrubbed out the beer stains on her sofa and mopped the floor clean she sprayed the whole appartment with air freshener. Exhausted and persdpiring as if in in the Sahara DT craved for a shower and jumped straight into one after neatly folding her clothes up. Coming out of her bathroom dressed in her bathrobe still feeling exhausted DT opted for some relaxation in front of the tele. Settling down in her best chair she put on ESPN.¨

BAAAMM!!!!!!!

Dropping the remote from the shock of hearing John Wayne fire his winchester in the movie Alaska at full volume. If someone had been present in the room at that moment that person couldn't have heard what Double Tap screamed as she dived for the remote but if although a skilled lipreader could have read something like:

" That brat is going straight out on the street again"

Ears ringing she dived for the remote and hit mute. The tinnitus remained as she went to check the sound settings at her stereo aswell. After reprogramming her channels and sorting her records the ringing in her ears had subsided. Her anger remained though. In fact she hadn't been this furious since Charming Devil had copped a feel at the press conferance after the Frostfire arrest.

And then the door opened and Taloned Falconette emerged. As she spotted Double Tap she dropped her two sixpacks and pizza as she ran to embrace her foster mother yelling:

"Mommy! i've missed you so much."

Taloned Falconette babbled on about her adventures with Darkfeather, Fieryfeather and Kinetic Girl. As Double Tap held her young protege she felt all the anger fade away as her love came bubbling up.

Great story, can you post some pictures to go with it please? 

Ok here comes some pictures
(http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/3020/screenshot200605301751211pe.jpg)
DT posing in IP after Terra Volta
(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5955/screenshot200606070351325rv.jpg)
DT by the elevators
(http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/7427/screenshot200605301739276le.jpg)
TF checking her X-Rays
(http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1701/screenshot200606010222469wx.jpg)
TF spreading her ehrm "wings"

Dil, the story is up on the main page at the moment. 

Some of the pics area bit dark, but I did my best with them.  Also the text lacks a bit of contrast on one of them too.

Hope you like what you see.  Thanks for making the effort. 

My thanks should also be noted to my other half (Jeni/Guinevere) for proof-reading the final post.

---

Double Tap, I haven't forgotten you.  I will do yours shortly also.  Finally getting around to doing some tidying up of various things on the site that I have been putting off for various reasons.

OK DT, it is up and I hope you like it.  Had a bit of difficulty getting the pictures into the story, but I hope that the end result is ok.

Thanks for the contribution.

Well, DT holds the front pages until some one else makes a post, or I get around to doing another "Tales from Paragon City" for one of my *cough* alts!   ;D

As you may know this site hosts a CoH fiction section called "Tales from Paragon City".  The idea is that players of CoH can write a fictional article and get it listed on this site as a work of fan fiction (with credit for authorship of course!).

The basic guidelines for this are listed in this thread:

http://capesandcowls.info/forum/index.php?topic=102.0

I saw this article on the CoH main site and thought it might get your creative juices going afresh!

http://uk.cityofvillains.com/news/article/1305/

At the moment only two players have stepped up to the challenge, but I am sure that many more of you are capable of some really good stuff.  Get to it folks!  Show em what ya got!

Decided to merge these two threads as it isn't really a Foxbase specific idea.

Also the authors of the two stories (so far) now have their forum profiles correctly modified to show their status as site contributors! 

If you look at Dilvish's or Double Taps's profile you will now see:

VIP: Site Contributor

Just my way of saying "Thank You" for your efforts you two.  :)

Well here go's for my start....tell me what you think.  ???

A scream and his eyes flash open. His feet touch the cold floor as his nostrils are filled with the smell of sweat again.
‘They are not nightmare’s’ he hears his mentors voice ‘You open a portal to a different place and bring them to this world, that’s all’
The light from the bathroom lights up his head and McBride looks at the face in the mirror. ‘My God, for a 19 year old you look 25’ the blonde hair is wet with sweat and his eyes have dark lines. He turns on the shower.

‘Good you are awake, we will begin training again’ He turns to look at his mentor, the beautiful Longbow agent Susan Phillips. ‘Did you know that those nightmare images, with control, can be fired at your target’ She smiles that sweet spider smile.
When he first saw his mentor he thought ‘sexy’, the though departed after 3 minutes.
‘I hate you’ He thinks
‘And if you keep training you with learn to blind your target with those painful images’
‘And your bright spandex outfit would blind anyone first thing in the morning’ he thinks.

‘Strike your target!’
‘Again’
‘Use the spectral images, as a lance of justice…strike!’
He touched that place and brought some images. He saw them shoot towards the dummy and lightly flow over its chest.
‘Pathetic…strike again’
The images washed over the chest again.
‘No…not enough, that would not hurt a fly, OPEN THE PORTAL MCBRIDE!’
Anger flashed in his mind and he did not touch the place this time he punched it…and the portal opened. He swept his arm and focused his anger and his nightmares into one spectral lance.

‘They said you had potential…but my god….’
She turned to him
‘I think we need a new dummy’
And for the first time he saw her smile.... a warm a genuine smile.

Spectral

I like that.  It is a bit short, but maybe that is no bad thing.  Normally these posts tend to be 500 words ish, but I will post this one like that if you wish. 

The only thing it needs are some screenshots of your toon (so people can see who you are!).  Again, normally I would ask for three or so but as this story is short there would be more pics than words! lol  One, or maybe two should do.  You can post em here either as attachments or (better) via image shack (details on the bottom of your posting screen). 

You dont need to worry about cropping them and stuff, I can do that my end.   If you do want to crop em yourself then max width is 450px as anything wider breaks the site formatting if it is viewed in 800x600.

I look forward to seeing your pics.

Just a thought if you want to add more...how about a flash forward?  What is he like in training a few months later?  Or his first mission? 

Anyway, just a suggestion.  I will put it up as is if you want.  Just please let me know if you intend to add to it when you post your pics.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I do agree its too short, and I will add to it. There is much more to say :)

(http://[IMG]http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/6960/screenshot20spectral1ut7.jpg)[/img]

I hope this image uploads correctly :-\

Spectral

Hi Dave,
Sorry I will add the image this time :)
(http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/6960/screenshot20spectral1ut7.jpg)

OK, all done.  On the front page as we speak!

Lightened the image up a bit as for some reason screenies from CoH are always dark and also cropped it a little.  Looks great on my machine but I will need to see it on another, or wait for feedback here.  Anyway, hope you like it! 

It will stay there until another person comes forward with a story of their own.  I know a few are threatening to do one, but as yet no one actually has!  Writers block maybe?   ;)

I have also ammended your forum details to show that you contributed to the site.

Although it is up on the site at the moment, it is no big deal to add to it should you choose to do so.  Post here and I will add to it as you go.

Thanks for your efforts!   :)

Dave