Zav
Getting out there.
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2017
- Messages
- 13
- Likes received
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As the title suggests. And if this is in the wrong forum or whatnot, apologies in advance!
This is more of an experimental scrapbook of ideas. My brain's been circling around some ideas lately for a few stories, but that's all it's been for awhile. Just thinking about it, and not actually putting things down. I figured might as well put a stop to that and actually, you know, try writing it out. See if it sticks. If anyone likes the ideas and comments on it, I'd count it as a bonus.
There doesn't seem to be a particularly standard format for trying these out, so I'll go ahead and start with the one that's really been prodding at me lately:
Injustice: Gods Among Us (DCU, SI-ish)
Disclaimer: If you have not played either game, or have not read the comic tie-ins at all, there may be minor spoilers. I will try to avoid the big ones, and stick to the highlights.
If anyone's read the Injustice tie-in comics, or played through the story modes of both games, you know this: things in Injustice went horribly, horribly wrong for just about everyone involved (except the Joker, but he's not really around to enjoy the sick joke he played on his timeline). The Justice League is utterly fractured in the wake of the game's events, and by the time any resolution is had, the DCU has suffered a lot of damage. Many of the big players are dead, crippled, or are so bitterly opposed to each other that threats on the scale of the Justice League or the Green Lantern Corps are unchecked.
All because Superman had a really, really bad day, courtesy of the Joker.
Now I'm oversimplifying things. What I like about the Injustice setting is that while there are fairly big differences between the 'main' timeline and the Injustice timeline, there's also a lot of smaller ones that all build up to alter the core of some of the characters, even when they mostly started similarly to what we're familiar with.
Let's go over a few:
- Krypton still suffered its usual fate, but in a different fashion. In between a civil war (General Dru-Zod doing his usual thing), Krypton was also invaded and destroyed by Brainiac. Kal-El and Kara Zor-El were still sent to Earth, but effectively as war refugees escaping the doom of Krypton.
- Superman did not have a mortal nemesis. We all expect it to be Lex Luthor, but this was very much not the case in Injustice. If anything, Lex effectively shared the moniker of "Superman's Pal" along with Jimmy Olsen, and was the best friend of Louis and Clark.
- Because Lex was never the supervillain we normally peg him for, quite a lot of the threats Superman normally would face never appeared. John Corben, for example, did not appear as Metallo (or if he did, I admit I might have missed it). Bizarro was never made (until much later) because Lex never had the need or fixation to defeat Superman. Heroes are at least partially defined by their villains, and Superman's antagonistic relationship with Lex is one of his defining ones. What happens when you take that away?
There's more differences also, including Aquaman's distance from the surface world, Wonder Woman's more antagonistic tendencies despite her status as an Ambassador of Peace (quote Ares: "And now you're headbutting tanks"), and more.
So that was a lot of rambling about why you like Injustice. What are you getting at? What's your idea?
Having read a few pieces of fanfiction involving time travel and self-inserts (most notable in this category is Mr Zoat's 'With This Ring'), I know I'm not going to come close to matching them. This is really for fun, and to see if I can write something believable and something that people can enjoy with my relatively limited knowledge. So the setup would be this.
Meet this fellow. Nix Uotan, the Last Monitor, the Superjudge. Between the various realities of the DCU's Multiverse (the roughly 52 Earths as defined by Grant Morrison's Multiversity), it's his job to make sure nothing goes amok. This...didn't always go as planned. Some nasty folks known as the Gentry decided they wanted to consume the Multiverse (after having already consumed the previous iteration). The Gentry were eventually defeated in a contest they rigged against Nix Uotan, but only because he was able to send a call to assemble a multiversal Justice League. This is not the only time he's done something like this. In the comic tie-in to the now defunct MOBA game, Infinite Crisis, Nix Uotan also did the same thing (albeit on a much smaller scale). Taking heroes from the main universe, and the Nightmare, Magic and Gaslight universes (including one of my favorite depictions of Lex Luthor, if just for how unintentionally goofy he came across as - could just be me though), he was able to put down another multiversal threat.
I've rambled again, and there's still more backstory to him that I'm missing, but here's the point: this lends itself well to an SI-type storyline in the DCU.
The basic setup would be that Nix Uotan, having finally put out enough multiversal fires that he doesn't need to intervene directly this time, settles down to relax in his civilian personality. As depicted in Multiversity, he is, appropriately, a comic geek. Aside from simply witnessing the lives of the Multiverse, he'd likely just be content with just that to relax. Just take stock, see what's working well, see what isn't. And while the Superjudge is not mentioned or referred to in Injustice, I choose to interpret that it still exists in the wider multiverse (there are a few worlds that are left intentionally blank in the guidebook, so that could still work). He'd likely be dismayed at the state of that particular part of the Multiverse, but all of his other heroes are already dedicated to stabilizing things elsewhere, he has nothing he can really spare to save that universe from its fate.
Which is right around when the soul of the SI lands on his desk.
It would be the typical SI experience: sudden separation from a life he might or might not have been satisfied with, suddenly has his entire fate in the hands of the Superjudge. Whether another Random Omnipotent Being (or ROB, as I understand it to be) cast him there by accident, or a quirk of the Source who decided to be said ROB, there the SI is. Nix is at first confused as to what to do with him, when he decides this could possibly work. He gives the SI a choice: he can try to send him back to his original world, without any guarantee that things would go back to normal for the SI, or he could set him up in the DCU for a new life. He could retain his memories, and the broad strokes of knowledge, but nothing specific.
His only price: do your best to make the universe a better place. Which, given Injustice, is something of a tall order. But the SI accepts the deal. And since it's well within his abilities to alter reality subtly, Nix weaves a new life out of someone who theoretically could have existed, and sends the SI off on his way.
What is this new life?
This part is still under consideration. But one idea I had was to cast the SI as a Kryptonian. Except as a Kryptonian that grows up among the last generation of Krypton, before the great scouring of Brainiac. The SI knows it's coming - either Krypton blows up on its own because the Science Council ignores Jor-El's warnings (and possibly dig in their heels when Dru-Zod tries to launch a coup), or Brainiac comes in to make sure Krypton goes the way of the dodo.
The SI knows Krypton is doomed, but he can still affect the whims of fate somewhat. He could tie himself in with Jor-El, and try to gain greater acceptance of the knowledge that Krypton is heading towards a cataclysmic end. Possibly he would already be a good friend, or at least a strong ally, of the El family, in whatever capacity he works in. Or, he could ensure he becomes classmates with Dru-Zod and his inner circle. Join them as a soldier of the Kryptonian military (the name of which changes depending on continuity - one name I've seen was the Military Guild), tie himself to Zod as a right hand of sorts, and ensure that Krypton can at least put up a better fight against Brainiac. Instead of one of its greatest monsters, Dru-Zod may go down as the beacon of Krypton's Last Stand. One way or another, however, the Kryptonian SI would make his own way to Earth, with events being slightly swayed by Nix Uotan, but not to the point of direct support.
His objective?
To try and keep the Man of Steel on the golden path.
Okay, I started this snippet thinking this was going to be a twenty minute thing. I've been typing for a good deal longer than that. If anyone wants to chime in or pitch ideas, I'd love to discuss them.
If you actually read this, thanks! And I hope you gained some entertainment (or food for thought) out of this.
This is more of an experimental scrapbook of ideas. My brain's been circling around some ideas lately for a few stories, but that's all it's been for awhile. Just thinking about it, and not actually putting things down. I figured might as well put a stop to that and actually, you know, try writing it out. See if it sticks. If anyone likes the ideas and comments on it, I'd count it as a bonus.
There doesn't seem to be a particularly standard format for trying these out, so I'll go ahead and start with the one that's really been prodding at me lately:
Injustice: Gods Among Us (DCU, SI-ish)
Disclaimer: If you have not played either game, or have not read the comic tie-ins at all, there may be minor spoilers. I will try to avoid the big ones, and stick to the highlights.
If anyone's read the Injustice tie-in comics, or played through the story modes of both games, you know this: things in Injustice went horribly, horribly wrong for just about everyone involved (except the Joker, but he's not really around to enjoy the sick joke he played on his timeline). The Justice League is utterly fractured in the wake of the game's events, and by the time any resolution is had, the DCU has suffered a lot of damage. Many of the big players are dead, crippled, or are so bitterly opposed to each other that threats on the scale of the Justice League or the Green Lantern Corps are unchecked.
All because Superman had a really, really bad day, courtesy of the Joker.
Now I'm oversimplifying things. What I like about the Injustice setting is that while there are fairly big differences between the 'main' timeline and the Injustice timeline, there's also a lot of smaller ones that all build up to alter the core of some of the characters, even when they mostly started similarly to what we're familiar with.
Let's go over a few:
- Krypton still suffered its usual fate, but in a different fashion. In between a civil war (General Dru-Zod doing his usual thing), Krypton was also invaded and destroyed by Brainiac. Kal-El and Kara Zor-El were still sent to Earth, but effectively as war refugees escaping the doom of Krypton.
- Superman did not have a mortal nemesis. We all expect it to be Lex Luthor, but this was very much not the case in Injustice. If anything, Lex effectively shared the moniker of "Superman's Pal" along with Jimmy Olsen, and was the best friend of Louis and Clark.
- Because Lex was never the supervillain we normally peg him for, quite a lot of the threats Superman normally would face never appeared. John Corben, for example, did not appear as Metallo (or if he did, I admit I might have missed it). Bizarro was never made (until much later) because Lex never had the need or fixation to defeat Superman. Heroes are at least partially defined by their villains, and Superman's antagonistic relationship with Lex is one of his defining ones. What happens when you take that away?
There's more differences also, including Aquaman's distance from the surface world, Wonder Woman's more antagonistic tendencies despite her status as an Ambassador of Peace (quote Ares: "And now you're headbutting tanks"), and more.
So that was a lot of rambling about why you like Injustice. What are you getting at? What's your idea?
Having read a few pieces of fanfiction involving time travel and self-inserts (most notable in this category is Mr Zoat's 'With This Ring'), I know I'm not going to come close to matching them. This is really for fun, and to see if I can write something believable and something that people can enjoy with my relatively limited knowledge. So the setup would be this.
Meet this fellow. Nix Uotan, the Last Monitor, the Superjudge. Between the various realities of the DCU's Multiverse (the roughly 52 Earths as defined by Grant Morrison's Multiversity), it's his job to make sure nothing goes amok. This...didn't always go as planned. Some nasty folks known as the Gentry decided they wanted to consume the Multiverse (after having already consumed the previous iteration). The Gentry were eventually defeated in a contest they rigged against Nix Uotan, but only because he was able to send a call to assemble a multiversal Justice League. This is not the only time he's done something like this. In the comic tie-in to the now defunct MOBA game, Infinite Crisis, Nix Uotan also did the same thing (albeit on a much smaller scale). Taking heroes from the main universe, and the Nightmare, Magic and Gaslight universes (including one of my favorite depictions of Lex Luthor, if just for how unintentionally goofy he came across as - could just be me though), he was able to put down another multiversal threat.
I've rambled again, and there's still more backstory to him that I'm missing, but here's the point: this lends itself well to an SI-type storyline in the DCU.
The basic setup would be that Nix Uotan, having finally put out enough multiversal fires that he doesn't need to intervene directly this time, settles down to relax in his civilian personality. As depicted in Multiversity, he is, appropriately, a comic geek. Aside from simply witnessing the lives of the Multiverse, he'd likely just be content with just that to relax. Just take stock, see what's working well, see what isn't. And while the Superjudge is not mentioned or referred to in Injustice, I choose to interpret that it still exists in the wider multiverse (there are a few worlds that are left intentionally blank in the guidebook, so that could still work). He'd likely be dismayed at the state of that particular part of the Multiverse, but all of his other heroes are already dedicated to stabilizing things elsewhere, he has nothing he can really spare to save that universe from its fate.
Which is right around when the soul of the SI lands on his desk.
It would be the typical SI experience: sudden separation from a life he might or might not have been satisfied with, suddenly has his entire fate in the hands of the Superjudge. Whether another Random Omnipotent Being (or ROB, as I understand it to be) cast him there by accident, or a quirk of the Source who decided to be said ROB, there the SI is. Nix is at first confused as to what to do with him, when he decides this could possibly work. He gives the SI a choice: he can try to send him back to his original world, without any guarantee that things would go back to normal for the SI, or he could set him up in the DCU for a new life. He could retain his memories, and the broad strokes of knowledge, but nothing specific.
His only price: do your best to make the universe a better place. Which, given Injustice, is something of a tall order. But the SI accepts the deal. And since it's well within his abilities to alter reality subtly, Nix weaves a new life out of someone who theoretically could have existed, and sends the SI off on his way.
What is this new life?
This part is still under consideration. But one idea I had was to cast the SI as a Kryptonian. Except as a Kryptonian that grows up among the last generation of Krypton, before the great scouring of Brainiac. The SI knows it's coming - either Krypton blows up on its own because the Science Council ignores Jor-El's warnings (and possibly dig in their heels when Dru-Zod tries to launch a coup), or Brainiac comes in to make sure Krypton goes the way of the dodo.
The SI knows Krypton is doomed, but he can still affect the whims of fate somewhat. He could tie himself in with Jor-El, and try to gain greater acceptance of the knowledge that Krypton is heading towards a cataclysmic end. Possibly he would already be a good friend, or at least a strong ally, of the El family, in whatever capacity he works in. Or, he could ensure he becomes classmates with Dru-Zod and his inner circle. Join them as a soldier of the Kryptonian military (the name of which changes depending on continuity - one name I've seen was the Military Guild), tie himself to Zod as a right hand of sorts, and ensure that Krypton can at least put up a better fight against Brainiac. Instead of one of its greatest monsters, Dru-Zod may go down as the beacon of Krypton's Last Stand. One way or another, however, the Kryptonian SI would make his own way to Earth, with events being slightly swayed by Nix Uotan, but not to the point of direct support.
His objective?
To try and keep the Man of Steel on the golden path.
Okay, I started this snippet thinking this was going to be a twenty minute thing. I've been typing for a good deal longer than that. If anyone wants to chime in or pitch ideas, I'd love to discuss them.
If you actually read this, thanks! And I hope you gained some entertainment (or food for thought) out of this.