Æther Pool

So a big sticking point for me on BRS/Chariot!Taylor has been the fact that Chariot's chariot (fight me, the pun was not intentional) fired macaroons that acted as cannonballs. that doesn't really make sense in taylor's case, but you know what would? Blood

maybe not 'used tampons' and 'dirty needles', but at the very least blood. thematically it would set the tone for how actually serious a threat she would be, it would launch with the force of a firehose, if not a tidal wave, it creates a biohazard, and who is to say that it couldn't do more exotic things (like imitate napalm, for example)

not 100% sure i'm going with it, but i feel more comfortable with that as an option (god, contextually-speaking i never thought i would actually say that)

Hoooly fuck, I was wrong

okay, so i had that idea for Mummy!taylor, right? i figured it was going to be fairly impressive, but nothing too special until we start getting into 'i am literally dead' territory

Then I looked at the Savage Species rules for the Mummy, and Jesus Hentai Christ this is a game-changer
I knew she would get a bit stronger, but I thought it would cap out at around the level of a professional linebacker- powerful, but nothing to write home about. Instead, by virtue of strength alone she would be a low-level Brute, at the very least. Taylor would gain a +14 to her strength- assuming she has an average strength of 10 to start, this would put her up to a 24, competing on the same playing field as some giants.

then you add toughness to the equation- I knew taylor would get tougher, but i failed to comprehend how much tougher. i was aware of a mummy's damage reduction, but i failed to account for natural armor. together, those two qualities give her straight-up resistance to damage of around 15. I also forgot to add to that a mummy's Resistance to Blows, which reduces all incoming physical damage by half, and this is before you subtract damage due to NA and DR. with the standard anti-material rifle clocking in at 2d12 damage, even at max there is no way for it to hurt Taylor.
     and this is before you start accounting for the fact that she is immune to critical hits (headshots, heart shots, limb removal...yeah none of those work), immune to poison, immune to disease, immune to sleep, immune to paralysis, immune to stunning. .
     Hell, Taylor as a mummy is immune to mind-affecting effects, meaning that she is completely immune to Masters and Strangers. two of the biggest threats to any organization suddenly don't fucking matter so long as she is in the room
     at that point, fire vulnerability is less dangerous and more a necessary weakness to keep her from being completely fucking OP.

the strength would probably put Taylor at Brute 2-3; the toughness says 5+

oh, and that is still discounting her Despair ability (a bargain bin version of Glory Girl's aura), her additional +4 to both Wisdom and Charisma (meaning she has more presence and is more in-tune with the world around her), and her mummy rot ability (yeeeah, a spread-by-contact contagion that nobody on the planet- not even Panacea- has the ability to stop, that will kill those who contract it and reduce them to dust. ho.ly.shit.)

about the only downside to making Taylor a mummy is that it will also reduce her intelligence. she is smart enough that it shouldn't outright cripple her (i figured she probably had a 14-16 Int, so even at a -4 she is still of average intelligence at the very least) and will make her more single-minded (a more single-minded Taylor- God help us all)

(Oh yeah, and she doesn't need to eat, drink, or breathe- suck it Armsmaster/Alexandria)

EDIT: further update to her unholy fucking toughness
i was worried for awhile about her getting hit by a headshot or something- you know, because that would actually do enough damage to overcome her DR.
BUT
She's fucking UnDead! she's immune to critical hits. things that multiply damage, by hitting major arteries or nerves or joints don't do extra on her because she doesn't have any living tissue to give a flying fuck. getting shot in the head with an anti-material rifle might make her head explode, and sure it would be annoying, but it wouldn't actually stop her

Witch!taylor info dump:

canon worm timeline
annette hebert dies july 6, 2007
Emma meets sophia july 1st, 2008
have to assume that taylor going to summer camp happened around may-june, and she came back early july
taylor triggers january 1st, 2011 (that seems a bit off to me- what school district would be open new years day?
remember that the bullying had been going on for 18-ish months at this point, which would have put the bullying starting around may 2009. problem being that the wiki describes the bullying as starting the first day of high school, in august. hmm....
story begins apr 8, 2011

379 days between taylor going to summer camp and the bullying actually starting
975 days between taylor going to summer camp and triggering
roughly 1058 days from taylor going to summer camp to canon triggering
figure, if i am going to have taylor reacting to the locker situation, i am going to be starting my story some time before its canon start, which is fine

taylor's birthday occured around the time the undersiders were driving off the S9, so figure around june 10-12
she would have been 12 going to summer camp in 2008, and 13 upon coming home
oh my god, have her meet her teacher on the cusp of her birthday, just as a fate thing.
she would then have a little under 3 years before the events of canon. time enough for an apprenticeship, but not much more. might need to haul her back down to, i don't know, a level 3 or 4
this is actually pretty much in-line with way of the open hand, so whatever

also, in canon, taylor started the story at about 5'6, but in my story she's also been drinking growth potions to help her grow strong. if we say one for each birthday (not including her first w/ sensei) she'd have drunk 2 by the time the story starts
makes sense, as she wouldn't have had a reason to drink one at first, but it becomes a thing for her. as she can only drink 3, her birthday in-story would be her last one.
just rolled- 2,2,3
so first year, she gained 2 inches. second year (this one) she also gained 2 inches. should we see the one for her in-story birthday, she will gain an additional 3 inches.
that puts her at 5'10 at the beginning of the story
when she was imprisoned (still 2011) she was 5'8, and by the end of the timeskip she was 5'10. in this, she would be 6'3 and 6'5 respectively


looking at starting witch!taylor and i have a couple ideas of how to do it:
-start w/ taylor at summer camp, saved by witch-sensei during a storm
-present day of taylor in the early morning, digging a hole in the ground. tone makes it sound eerie before the reveal that she is just picking up some dirt. sets the tone for the bait and switch/illusion theme of the story
-present day school day, where we get to see just how few fucks taylor gives
actually looking at combing the first two, transitioning from the point of deviation to the aftermath, giving the eerie vibe, and then rolling. may not actually see school until chapter 2 or 3

obviously, with taylor being more confident, the 'me vs whole school' thing doesn't quite work as well. that she doesn't fight back means a few of the bullies would still be there, but some lose interest when she shows them exactly how few fucks she has to give. most of the school treats the Emma & Co. vs taylor thing to be an in-school drama
Emma in this fic was originally meant to exemplify the version who is trying to put taylor down- her old life down- in an ill-advised attempt to feel strong. only it isn't working. taylor is still growing stronger, despite her best attempts to the contrary, and taylor's zen non-responses to emma are making her desperate. may lead to her pulling more vicious stunts, or pull some stunts early.
it could also be that emma thinks taylor has found her own philosophy on strength, which would put them in the same position, trying to figure out whose is stronger, so emma is not just trying desparately to be strong, but is also trying to prove that she was right to go this way and betray her friend of a decade, and if she can't 'beat' taylor, then she completely and utterly fucked up
also may be one of those where danny and alan are aware of the animosity.

Sophia is still after taylor, because like in canon she considers anything besides negative consequence to be permission to continue. she is mean-spirited to a fault, and refuses to believe that someone who won't fight back against her to be anything but prey
then she stumbles upon bewilderments:

*taylor and the locker escape (complete with shower and nude walk to the office with no fear or shame)
*taylor shovels a bunch of gangsters to death
*taylor wandering the streets at night
*taylor meeting rachel lindt on good terms
*taylor patching a mugging victim or a merchant
*taylor and wrestling in gym class
*taylor vanishing from sight, even tinkertech-aided sight

EDIT: it might also behoove taylor to talk with her teachers, constantly (in a friendly manner, unlike the verbal beatdown she gives Blackwell for making her the school's sacrifical lamb), but it would really get under Emma's skin if, in response to her needling, Taylor shows concern instead of rage. the other girls? fuck 'em. but Emma? taylor tries to take her aside, asks if she's seen a therapist, and upon finding out she hasn't tries to play therapist for her
     so not only i taylor getting stronger, and preventing emma from being so (in her own eyes) but taylor still has enough energy left over to try and put emma back together (kind of like glassmaker, but intentional)

EDIT: stat rolls!
               lvl growth potion
str= 13 +2    =15
dex- 13    =13
con- 11 +2    =13
int= 16 +1    =17
wis- 14    =14
cha- 14    =14

hp: 16+4=20

edit: realized that i might have been mistaken in the timing, even if i read properly; taylor's mom died when she was 12, but i don't think she went to summer camp for another year in canon.
whatever, works better for this fic, so FUCK OFF

also, couple of notations
-really want kaiser to meet taylor and try to manipulate/force her into working for him and he points out that A) she's not a parahuman and B) it is a terrible idea to try and blackmail someone who is going to be working on your people in a medical setting- bad things tend to happen
- kind of want Taylor to meet Kayden as well as Rachel, just kind of in the same way, meet every once in a while, play with Aster, maybe the kid gets a cold and kayden is panicking like 'oh, fuck' and taylor just drops some syrupy stuff down aster's throat and the kid is better within the hour. after that they are just kind of neighborly to each other. maybe get theo in on this too, maybe not
- Reeeally want the house to change in this fic. I mean, sure, i kind of realized that in passing before, but i think it really fits with what taylor will be doing now. projects like working on the siding and repairing the steps aside, kind of want the walls to be covered in carvings and paintings and woodcuts and stuff, flat spaces have sculptures and weird books all over the place. the workshop in the basement has been cleaned up and is covered in unusual projects, and the entire house smells of spice and incense. like, it's not exactly that taylor is bringing her work home with her, but she definitely brings the results home, and it makes the home feel even more lived-in

EDIT: may or may not be a thing yet, but i think it would be kind of hilarious for Witch!Taylor to have been born with Iron Lung, a trait that means she suffers no ill effects from drinking alcohol. this they found out because her teachers drink, and drink regularly, and she somehow drank the barbarian under the table, much to teacher-sensei's amusement.
     This being the case, she actually started drinking with her father in their house, which served as a bonding experience both their intimate family (teachers included) as well as for their friend group, as well as curbing what may have been a developing drinking problem in Danny. It also is kind of funny because Taylor due to not suffering ill effects tends to focus on the taste, so they tend to focus on different and quality liquor

witch-sensei caught three level 12 adventurers who were trying to kill her and used their essence (xp) as fuel to create her pocket plane
at 12th level, each would be worth 100,000xp, giving her 300k
each casting of Genesis costs 5k, and requires a week to operate, so it would take her a little over a year to perform properly
this would also give her something to do off-screen when not teaching Taylor
each casting gives her 180ft of radius
x60= 10800 feet of radius
area of a spherical plane like this is Pi*r2 (3.14*(10800*10800)
=366249600 square feet
an acre is 43560 square feet
so her full-sized plane would be just over 8400 acres
this makes it jthis makes it just slightly larger than American Samoa
sure, it is tiny for a national park (it would be like, the 3rd smallest) but still, that's fairly substantial, larger by a wide margin than many state parks
oh, it is also worth mentioning that a typical small-family farm is 231 acres. a large family farm is 1421, and a very large family farm is around 2086. this means that her pocket dimension, once fully grown, would be about 4x the size of any typical farm. I'm pretty sure she has plenty of space
hoooly shit, it is literally only just slightly larger than the vanderbilt estate
hell, sell off the adventurers' equipment and she could pay for the spells 3x over. i'm pretty sure she has material cost covered for this little endeavor

EDIT: Taylor playing the flute in Witch-sensei's garden

Relaxing Music - Flute, Gentle Birds and Rainforest Sound
321 Relaxing - Meditation Relax Clips


Rain and Native American Flutes - Relaxing Music
321 Relaxing - Meditation Relax Clips

Note for Witch!Taylor- Constellations had Taylor go to summer camp when she was like...8. if Witch!Taylor did something similar, it would actually provide more time and background for Witch-sensei to come by
Sensei Ukiyo
apparently a better weight for taylor, at least initially, between adventure cycling, basketball, and heptathalon on the athlete body shapes comparison would put her at 5'10 and 168, and her max would probably be something around 6'5 and 203
then again, she's light, so maybe 160 at 5'10 and...190 at 6'5? 195
So as a note, a number of canon points are going to be changed by Taylor's being a witch. not only is she in better shape, for instance, which will ward off a lot of confrontation, but she is also more confident and less of a target for bullying.
this will initially drive Sophia off, because while she may consider Taylor beneath her, that's what Sophie thinks of everybody, so there are more viable targets than Taylor. It is not until Taylor demolishes her in gym wrestling that Sophia actually starts paying attention
Protectorate response will be interesting, because she's not a threat, and isn't doing anything dangerous, but helps villains and gang members in addition to civilians. also she refuses to join and be a hero (for a lot of reasons, starting with 'I don't want to', which despite what Piggot thinks is a perfectly valid reason)
kind of want Taylor to completely shut Tattletale down, especially if TT tries the whole 'cops and robbers' speech, to which Taylor retaliates with confirmation and self-serving bias and asking if TT actually bothered to check if the bank was reimbursed, if everyone was okay physically and mentally, or if TT is just telling herself that to ease her own conscience

Worm OCs for fictional writings:

Tinker 1- a runaway kid who actually is a pretty capable tinker, but most of their stuff is pretty short-term so they aren't seen as much of a threat. considered a low-level sub-classified Mover, but what their shit actually does is mess with time. considering they are a very new trigger who has had minimal materials and time, their tech so far deals in very minimal slivers of time. if their tech ever managed to develop further, a higher threat assessment would be assigned

Striker/Master 4- an old, homeless man. has had powers for some time, years in fact, and has actually managed to re-adjust fairly well. is actually fairly personable and likeable, and goes out of way to help people when can. actually heavily inspired by Kevin Norton himself, just a bit older


will be adding more as can

EDIT: Your mother was a whore and your father was a drunk. late teens with a power kind of like Jack Slash's, but more of a drunken master than a sniper

EDIT: Tinker Idea- floating mobile weapons platform tinker

prototype!taylor would by all technicalities be a striker primarily, and everything else would be a changer adaptation, i think
thinker/striker taylor- a version where the 'duct tape taylor to a pole' goes a step further than even Price of Blood; taylor hadn't triggered prior, and ends up robbed, beaten, raped, and left bound to a pole for hours in the january cold. she has a lot of time to think, to wonder why this is happening, and decide that she Can't Live In Fear
serious change from canon personality, more dangerous, far les willing to take shit from anyone. shaves her head and talks to her dad so she no longer has anyone to worry about. gets in a fight with E88 when she comes in to turn in her letter saying she is leaving winslow; she kills four and hospitalizes five or six others
thinker power is primarily postcognitive and functions with time in the long term- the longer she thinks about something, the further back she can look and the more detail she gets
in the short term is her striker power, which lets her sap information from anyone she gets in combat with- skills, training, gang function details, and so on. might be a bud off viktor's shard; his nephew might have been one of the boys her sodomized her, the boy just wasn't able to trigger, but taylor was.

found this on tumblr:

NSFW:

toning down the sexual overtones, might be a really interesting story of how taylor accidentally masters herself. like, triggers with a power that gives her control over people's actions and accidentally uses it on herself because she wants to do better in life, without suffering. it works- her grades improve, she works out a lot, she is more confident/doesn't give a fuck, so her social life actually improves, she cuts down on costs by basically memorizing all her material and leaving her books at home, etc. but she is trapped within her own mind, and she didn't leave herself an off-switch


Pitch!taylor- how much nightmare fuel would that be? high-level thinker/shaker w/ master/trump/stranger mix that gets stronger the more people she influences. she can divine your fears, make hard illusions to work w/ them, and the more people are afraid of her the further her influence reaches.
imagine how that would work against capes, who get their powers from trauma...
imagine how much power she would get in the wake of an Endbringer...
hell, the world of worm-verse is fucked as-is; this would be S-class Taylor, a new Nilbog, a new Sleeper

Ho ho, i think i know how i would want to do Shatterbird!Taylor (because neither of the switch-fics i've read on that topic really felt good to me)

basically, do what the author of Seed did with giving taylor Blast's shard- change how she uses it and learns with it
couple of splits from canon- taylor is still artistic and creative, but channel that more into dance. after the Locker, she starts dancing again, and it makes her happy. she uses her powers initially to add effects and dance partners to her dance, and that serves for a lot of her early practice.
the Locker itself is a lot more violent- in addition to sanitary pads and tampons, the Locker was also filled with broken glass. this not only gave taylor more injuries, but created more infections and caused her to be seriously hospitalized.
debating whether or not i want to introduce Panacea here or not, because i feel that having been introduce, Taylor could have Amy start dancing with her, which while a ship-tease it actually serves more as a stress reliever for Amy, allowing her to be happier and more relaxed.

Taylor focuses a lot on the micromanagement and fine control aspects early in her career, not utilizing the macro scale (the truly macro scale) until later on. she does note the effect she has on electronics, and comments that it is a good thing her dad doesn't like cell phones, because she would be hell on them. may also serve to keep her out of the public light, since anyone trying to record her has their equipment break (cameras, phones, etc).

How does she interact with other groups?
No idea. i know she practices at the Boat Graveyard (asking the residents there if they mind, funnily enough) so it's not exactly like she's hiding very well. i know i kind of want her to meet Lung on somewhat good terms- the Docks are kind of/kind of not in his territory, so he goes to check out the new parahuman, and they hit off kind of well. his pyrokinesis turns sand into molten glass, which she can then shape at will.

buuut yeah. shatterbirb

think i might have finally worked out Prototype!Taylor
This taylor is known as Curse

Curse triggers in the locker, as usual, and falls out of her locker fairly quickly as her body constantly falls apart and rebuilds itself as a living virus. she is quickly taken to PRT headquarters

the 'why' situation occurs because Director Piggot sees and hears about this cape from Panacea or something similar and takes a leaf out of Tagg's book, declaring her dangerous and criminal with nothing actual done on her part, and tries to send her directly to prison or some-such.

Taylor breaks out, and a number of things could happen. my favorite is where she more or less wipes out the gang presence in BB and heads to China, letting Piggot become complacent with falsely claimed accolades while she builds power wiping out the CUI (who obviously don't share information), then coming back to take her revenge
another could have Taylor simply fight her way out, and this 'resisting arrest' warrant or whatever is taken out on her dad, who someone lynches. he dies, and Taylor just goes off the fucking deep end and slaughters an entire mess of people.

really rough and not completely sure if they would work in context, but it's a start

Time Tinker!Taylor

mix of Ekko from LoL, the Time Thief class from Pathfinder, and others

slivers of time- looks like a low-level mover (super speed and/or short-range teleportation)
speed up/slow down time- one instance is when she fractionally speeds up her fist, making her punch much faster, and since force is largely dependent on speed...
she will have to find a way to reinforce or protect herself
Rewind- like Ekko; primarily a combat app
Stop Time- largely dependent on how much time she has to play with
Steal Time- she may be able to go to someone who is dying and take they time they might have had (naturally). saving ethical issues and very experimental, but the fuel for her largest energy expenditures

Another idea for Taylor:
kind of like the self-master power i talked about earlier, but a bit more like Quinn Sullivan, kind of

the power allows Taylor to manifest different parts of herself, different personalities, depending on the situation
great example: during the scene where taylor is backed up against the wall and emma pulls the 'cry for a week' card, the 'conscious taylor draws back inside and cries, but her place is taken by 'stoic' taylor, who just stares at emma stone-faced and says, 'Are you done?'

want to mix it with a social aspect that allows her to understand people's personalities and perspectives and create templates off of them if she talks with them long enough, so that she can utilize those templates later. emma would be one example, her father the negotiator would be another. want her to go and talk to an old drill instructor for another, and so on.

this might also be the one where at least one of the teachers was old friends with her mom, and she talks with them semi-frequently

Minor note on a previous character

I think Alma (from my skeletal Tropophobia story) may well be a schizoid. one foot in societal reality, one foot in psychosis. tends to stick to the shadows of society, and if you don't go out of your way you might never meet her

Before I forget:
Teacher!Danny- the Danny that becomes a cape after Taylor very publicly kills herself and leaves letters written in blood to everyone involved in her bullying campaign
Teacher doesn’t exist in this world; may need some villainous OCs and there will be ripples according in regards to Masters
Saint and Dragon- in this universe, since teacher didn’t exist until story, Saint almost immediately went to the authorities to warn them about Dragon. Of course, they took Richter’s black box and started controlling Dragon, forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do, only realizing later that Any authority could tell her what to do, and more catastrophes were caused by other people controlling her than Saint could ever have imagined she would. Dragon is relegated to strict limits and watched over by high brass in the PRT, and Geoff is left with the realization that the AI didn’t want any of this, and all this devastation is his fault
Saint has tried to do something, anything, to make up for his mistake, but it has only gotten people killed. When Saint hears about Teacher!Danny’s rise to power, he sees his one last chance to free the sentient creature he doomed to hell
I have an image of Dragon, retaken, offline for half an hour, and over a hundred people in the supertanker base (see below) typing in concert at over 35k words a minute to get Dragon set up before the authorities take her over again
The power fits- Danny is isolated, lost, and angry, having lost everything to a system that doesn’t care about him and his loved ones. He gains a power that not only makes people competent in necessary fields, but can also make them work together in ways that no one would believe possible
The supertanker, the DWU, and the Boat Graveyard- early on, Danny’s primary work force is his group of friends at the DWU. Since jobs are scarce, Danny is their friend who is hurting, and Danny now has a power that effectively gives them power, they jump at the chance to try and fix their city. With contacts everywhere, including management of an old smelting facility, Danny and company use scrap steel and parts from the Graveyard to build machines and tools, and under deep cover fix and retrofit the supertanker in the bay. Eventually, not only is it resurrected and able to move, freeing up the Bay, but it is a massive fortress with R&D and medical facilities
Coil and Dinah, Noelle and the Travelers- a few months into the story (so everyone in the Union has their knowledge and can work on projects without Danny right there) Danny intentionally/unintentionally gets himself captured by Coil. While seemingly under control, Danny is secretly overtaking all of Coil’s personnel, making friends with the Travelers, and learning everything he has to in order to take the snake down. When Dinah is captured, Danny snaps and instantly launches an attack from within, turning all of Coil’s personnel against him in an instant. No time for negotiations, no time for contingencies, Coil is just gone.
Danny keeps the base (after some talky-talk with Noelle) and some of the soldiers, but otherwise marches the bulk of Coil’s forces to the front door of the PRT and personally hands Coil’s head to Director Piggot
Also, Danny talked with Noelle while in the base, and is certain he and his R&D team can help her. Well, both are true. The R&D team is working in ways to reconstitute her body, turn it into something resembling her original one (probably by making it super-fucking dense) and Danny himself can give Noelle incredible control over her power. This is not to mention tech to assist her in controlling her clones, direct her in battle, or just helping her reform her body herself. Kind of want to say that Luke and Krouse die at some point, but the Travelers become allies of Danny, with Noelle being one of his staunchest supporters.
Oh, holy shit, someone on the research team would figure out a way to have Oliver give Noelle a helping hand in controlling her powers. That’s what he’s built for, anyway
The Undersiders- 1 in 4 chances they survive. Giving these kids the same chances that anyone does going up against an Endbringer when they fight Lung. Any one of them could benefit from coming in contact with Danny, but I think I’ll leave that up to chance
Leviathan fight- I know Danny & Co. will be involved, but not sure how I want it to go yet. Kinda want to start off with ‘test-firing’ the new weapons battery on the supertanker, which now shows itself to be fully operational, with a few ‘Tinker’ bonuses thrown in. Super laser melts Levi’s skin off. He flipped the tanker with a tidal wave? Activate relative gravity until we can get someone to flip us back over. Also really want Noelle to eat a couple of capes to get clones, so we end up with a couple of Alexandria’s holding Levi by the arms and Noelle bracing while a couple of Eidolons and Legends take chunks out of the damn thing
The S9- father of dead daughter to father of dead daughter; Danny Hebert and Dr William Manton. Bonesaw? Anyone else? Mayhap Mannequin goes after Danny? Nah, seems more Jack’s speed. Basically it. Kind of want Bonesaw on Danny’s side so she can get some real parenting, and I definitely want the Siberian to change sides, but the rest? Fuck ‘em
New Wave- really early, actually. Danny & co. were out looking for scrap when they come across Panacea and GG being ambushed, and help them out. Further contact results in Danny sitting down with NW and having a little chat about what Panacea can actually do and why she needs some serious help. He either lends her some knowledge or she lets him take over completely so she doesn’t have to worry
Possibly Purity/Theo?- Purity is looking to do some good; what better way than with the up-and-coming blue collar cape group? The one that offers solid second chances? Also, Theo might use this as a chance to escape his father
The Butcher?- the Butcher is a powerful cape boogeyman, but is incredibly vulnerable to mental effects, due to all the minds inside of it. What happens when Danny gets hold of them and uses his power to full effect, rendering the cape little more than a puppet full of powers? Debating whether I should have Danny take the Butcher himself, or whether he would be smarter and give the mantle to someone else, who trusts him to keep them from going crazy
And Oh Boy, imagine how jelly the PRT is going to get: Danny is not only an incredibly capable and smart Master who can make Tinkers and Thinkers on the fly and modify existing powers, he also has his own base (multiple, but they don’t know that), incredible public support (Roy was very happy when Danny brought Dinah home) and let’s see, how many powerful capes does he have on his side?
Noelle/Echidna, Sundancer, Genesis, Dinah, Dragon, Siberian. Maybe Purity and the Butcher, and god only knows who else.

EDIT:
couple quick notes on teacher!Danny
when danny kills coil, the prt is immediately suspicious of this new master in town
but the alcotts and the christners owe him big
not only that, but he also took over all of coil's assets, giving him not only capital and connections, but fortress construction company
this allows him to hire people and keep them in work. even better, it allows him the ability to start up contracts to rebuild parts of the city, employing even more
this allows him to hire on people like brian and kayden, for multiple reasons
also, i see danny as having failed taylor as a father, so he starts trying to father and look after the younger parahumans who come under him, especially the fragile ones
rachel perhaps, definitely noelle, definitely dinah. he tries with brian, attempts with alec, etc.
there is a chance that night, fog, and crusader will join up alongside purity, but we'll see. it would definitely be awkward
imagines them going through sensitivity training
imagines all these people working together in an office building, and how weird it must feel for some of them
imagines aisha getting pulled into all of this
imagines noelle babysitting kayden, who is at first worried but then realizes what a good big sister noelle can be and is, and how safe her daughter is

Variation on an idea from before, but better, kind of

Taylor is essentially like Lung, but the thing is as she gets more and more injured, she gets more powerful
not necessarily stronger, but Pain Empowerment

her power starts off weak, basically nothing, but starts ramping up considerably, and not only do her existing powers get stronger (still to be determined what they are) but she also starts to get more powers

I can't believe I never considered the option of having Taylor go the route of being inundated with the information and beliefs of the WH40k Adeptus Mechanicus. Like, either by throwing her through the Warp onto Mars or something or through the info getting downloaded straight into her brain (either the knowledge of an Adept or from the Void Dragon/Machine Spirits themselves)

that would actually be really interesting, if she could listen to the machine spirits and be able to tell that they were taken from other civilizations, thus kind of giving her an idea of what she is fighting

that...would be badass. But I need more info on the Mechanicus before i do that

for adeptus mechanicus!Taylor, it might actually be a good idea for her to actively start seeking out other Tinkers, to see and refine their processes. kind of has the ability of Dragon, but kind of better, because dragon can just reverse-engineer Tinker-tech. Taylor, because AdMech, can actually grasp the science and bullshit behind it
technically, while i kind of want taylor to end up a Magos, that is a result of a LOT of study and work, so she'll probaby start lower. Initially, if she has the info downloaded, she might technically be a servitor until her controller can get a handle on the world and make sure she is ready
after that, she would probably be a runepriest or lexmechanic, before moving up to enginseer.
electro-priest might be a product of observing/participating in a behemoth fight
menial-->rune priest-->enginseer--> electro-priest?-->magos errant?
consider: Reclaimator, possibly instead of electro-priest

badass female underhive character

a case of false incrimination is not discovered until after the accused has spent years in ultramax incarceration, which in this world has included such things as isalation, denial of meals, denial of movement, and the actual loss of limbs, as she was forced to undergo surgery that crippled her for the sake of high security. she is release years later, but the damage has already been done

Princess (the ferrokinetic who made sentient armor suits) as one of Kaiser's kids (rejected like theo), was taylor's only friend in high school (bullied like her) and triggered in the aftermath of her death in the locker

sorceress/warlock who gained power because her soul was bartered away to a demon by someone else. she picked up adventuring to try and become strong enough to fight for her soul back

phantom of the opera- nightwish for necromancer oc


female half-orc sorceress
6'3 and 260ish?

str:16 dex:16 con:15 int:13 wis:12 cha: 16 are her stats, with racial mods included

Ghost!Taylor-
was thrown through the planes due to an undetermined event; ended up in the courtyard of an established school/church, and was brought up and trained by them.
became a professional adventurer, but stayed friendly with the establishment, and her first friend there in particular
this friend was a cleric of the lover of death (can't remember her name) who showed her her mother and gave her closure, as well as hope that she could eventually return home
came to honor this goddess
traveled with this cleric in time, and they had many grand adventurers (and perhaps even lovers, depending)
in time though, she was died, holding the line so her companions could escape their enemies
became a ghost due to prior planning (ring or something) or the goddess' will, but had to wander the Astral plane until she could find her way back
when she finally returned, she found that while she had wandered the cleric had died in the battle to contain their enemies, mirroring her own actions.
she underwent a quest to reclaim her friend's body. in the process she won the war for them, and freed the mage who had been trapped behind enemy lines
she and the mage created a mausoleum for the both of their bodies
the mage then went on to research the planes. sometimes taylor went along as back-up, sometimes she stayed to train someone she found with talent, and at others she wandered by herself
finally, one day the mage returned from his studies, revealing the the purpose of his studies was to find a way between the layers of the material plane to her own world
Taylor finally returned, only to discover that in the stretch of time she had been scouring the planes, very little time had passed (almost exactly up til canon)

thinking 14 levels normal, and gained a couple levels in ghost between dying/coming back and returning to her own world
ghostly grasp feat, maybe the deathsong special attack, maybe the lore ability, maybe the illusion ability
after looking at some general multiclass stuff, i'm at a toss-up between allowing ToB or not. if i am, going warblade is almost a guarantee. if not, going fighter, mixing probably rogue and hexblade. other than that, not really sure
trying to go for someone who was definitely a front-liner, but could also provide some skills and had some tricks up her sleeve
favoring 6(fighter or warblade or swordsage)/3 rogue/5 hexblade
consider swapping to 7 warblade/3 rogue/4 hexblade
epic? legendary dreadnought? chosen? eternal? master of nine?
aaactually, chosen would be a Really good one, because it continues to give Taylor benefits, full BAB and good HD, for instance, but it also increases the class features of 2 or three of her other classes every level, so she could get more benefits from warblade and hexblade, and even rogue, as she continues as a chosen, without needing to spend extra levels in each

Disciplines: diamond mind, iron heart, stone dragon, tiger claw?, white raven?, cursed razor?, eternal guardian, mithral current, riven hourglass?, shattered mirror?, sleeping goddess?, steel serpent?, thrashing dragon?,

Stats: 11, 13, 16, 12, 14, 14
Str:16 Dex:14 Con:11 Int:14 Wis:13 Cha:12
str and dex might switch. kind of cheating with con; normally it would have been higher, 13 or 14. but since she'll lose it as a ghost i'm giving the 13 to wis and sacrificing the average roll

Diamond mind- rapier, shortspear, bastard sword, trident
Iron heart- bastard sword, dwarven waraxe, longsword, two-bladed sword
Stone Dragon- greatsword, greataxe, heavy mace, unarmed strike
Tiger claw- kukri, kama, claw, handaxe, greataxe, unarmed strike
White raven- longsword, battleaxe, warhammer, greatsword, halberd

cursed razor- heavy blades, light blades, spears
eternal guardian- hammers, heavy blades, polearms
mithral current- light blades, heavy blades, polearms
riven hourglass- flails, hammers, light blades
shattered mirror- heavy blades, light blades, close weapons
sleeping goddess- flails, heavy blades, monk weapons, spears
steel serpent- light blades, close weapons, monk weapons
thrashing dragon- close weapons, light blades, double weapons

heavy blades- greatswords, bastard swords, katana, longswords, scimitars
aldori dueling sword, ghost iron scimitar
light blades- dagger, kukri, starknives, rapier

bastard sword, longsword, scimitar/falchion, dagger/kukri
might need a greatsword to help some of the styles

i think it would be interesting for Curse!Taylor if the 'virus bomb' breaker form was actually one of the last things she developed, and did so specifically for BB, just for the irony
piggot was worried that taylor was a bio-weapon, that that was essentially her power.
and Taylor is like, 'nope, gonna fuck people up in all sorts of ways, but I'm saving that one for you'
just to throw people like that
another note for the Curse story. i think it would be interesting if at some point she had to go inside an Endbringer shelter and found out that it wasn't up to code, and started investigating why
the discovery of Coil, as inspired by The Nightmare Queen

for alt-powers
changer has 3, stranger has 1, brute has 1, breaker has 0
mind, this is on the list for the best altpowers, but it still shows a discrepancy

So, earlier today I was thinking of why the original Mummy movie with Brendan Fraser pissed me off, and it gave me an idea

See, the problem I had with the movie was two-fold
First, if the curse inflicted upon Imhotep was so terrible that it had never before been performed, how did they know how to perform the ritual, or even that it would work?
Second, it doesn't really seem like all that bad of a curse. I mean, what did it cost Imhotep? He was buried alive and barred from entering the afterlife due to his obsession with worldly love. Considering he betrayed his own king and went against his own religious teachings, and even risked angering the dead for his love, I don't think he really gave a damn. And what did he get in return? He became more magically powerful, he became infinitely stronger, he possessed power over the desert itself, and oh yes, he became effectively immortal. For Imhotep specifically, and for a number of people like him, that really isn't that bad of a deal.
Oh, and the 'Ten Plagues of Egypt' thing came from a completely different religion altogether, so fuck that


Moving on, this was my idea
Mummies as undead are, at best, regarded as guardians of a tomb, and at worst as insane, virtually immortal, genocidal maniacs
What if instead you had a culture where being interred as a mummy was not only seen as a noble burial, but a selfless sacrifice. Being turned into a mummy meant offering yourself up as a source of future guidance and wisdom, and as a line of defense in times of need

In particular, I imagined a high priest who allowed himself to be mummified in order to fulfill a prophecy, to rise and save his beloved kingdom time and time again. In D&D terms this guy was like...a level 25, so monstrously powerful by average standards, and with a great amount of power and potential servants at his disposal. When his time comes, he rises, brings his servants out of the crypt with him, rains retribution upon the enemies of his nation, and goes back to sleep to await the next time he is needed.
Of course, his nation doesn't last forever, but so long as one enters his tomb in the proper fashion and undertakes the correct rituals in order to wake him up, he remains amenable to requests for his assistance

also, at one time he had a cohort... well, cohort as far as the term goes. In-story they were the top of their fields- he of the national religion and she of the military- and both served together, at first as apprentices with similar goals, then as friends, comrades, and eventually lovers
they never married- both their positions never allowed for it- but they kept each other company, which was interesting as they came from such different backgrounds

He was born of a low caste, and rose to his position through faith, selflessness, and tireless effort. She was born to a high caste, but always faced immense pressure to succeed in all areas of her life. When they met, they were a bit stiff with each other, but after fighting alongside each other they opened up. He was actually fairly instrumental in getting her to try new things for the sake of enjoyment, rather than achievement, and earned her trust in doing so.

When she died on the field of battle, and he allowed himself to be interred, he gave his immortal life, and the eventual chance at an afterlife, that she may be reborn to experience life anew

probably needs polishing but come on, I thought this up in the middle of a bike ride. Sue me

Curse/Kraken/Archangel music list preliminary (mostly pre-2011 stuff)

Jango’s dance carnival
Black Rock shooter game op
Deadman wonderland op
Running in the 90s
Black lagoon op
Bacanno guns and roses
Santana smooth
Nightcore loco best version
Nightcore moonlight shadow
My hime ost Ensei
Electric angel
Sad alice said open your eyes
Lee dewyze sweet serendipity
Castlevania the accursed seal bloody tears
Three days grace I hate everything about you
Scanty and kneesocks metal theme
Michael buble feeling good
Sister sin sounds of the underground

Just for hilarity's sake, I like having Curse fight to Jonathan Young's One Punch Man cover


in a similar vein I also like The Nearly Deads' My Evil Ways

tohu!taylor

if you wanted to not be an asshole and give her an endbringer's power wholesale, here are some ideas from reddit:

Less powers at once.
Only weakened versions of the original powers.
A charge-up period for the powers. (A.k.a. Eidolon's limitation.)
No way to directly choose which powers are active. (Also Eidolon's limitation.)
No automatic knowledge of how the powers work.
Limitations on which powers can be copied:
Only powers the cape has seen / touched can be copied.
Touch someone to have their power, need to touch them again to reacquire it.
Limits to how often powers can be used. (Can only be Alexandria once a week.)
Limits to how long powers can be used. (Can only be Alexandria for one minute.)
You could give someone all or most of these limits and still have them be a top-tier cape, particularly if the "Endbringer durability" part of the package comes along.


Oh, here's one I didn't think of:
Only powers that have been used against the cape can be copied.
A.k.a. the Blue Mage powerset. So, sure, you can copy Siberian... if you take a punch from Siberian first.
This is partially tricky because defining "a power was used against you" can get complicated. Unless you're fine with there being whole classes of power (Thinkers!) which you just can't copy.

important note:
If you're making her a mini-Endbringer, your story can't really have convinving power-based conflict; you gotto go with social conflict and psychological exploration, for the most part.

This isn't​ exactly a disadvantage, but it's not an advantage either. When she's copying the power, she should look like the person too. You can do this different ways: only the person changes, or the costume can too, like glaistig uiane (the costume represents the power).
In an advantagous way, she can perfectly copy another cape as an advantagous stranger side power. As a complete disadvantage, her body shape can change most of the way (so the stranger effect would be more useless than not ie. no ninja, too different, but obvious power choice), so she also having to deal with body changes in the field with no costume help.
("Yes I could be Eidolon, but then I would have to be a guy").
It can also be a cutesy sort of thing (her costume changes and she looks like she's related to the person -> oh hey, it's legend's daughter/Bonesaw's older sister/Panacea's twin).
Or it can be creepy -- her face (or maybe mask) is the ONLY thing that changes. Maybe some amount of body horror, possibly involving Cauldron because monster capes, jailbroken powers, and dead shards go hand in hand.
I dunno, I like the changer aspect to the power copying, ever since an omake of that fic with Animom.

kind of want to make an apathetic warlock character
either is Taylor, or an adopted version of her, or her adopted sister-to-be before Annette's miscarriage
Ooor someone very much like her

major hang-up is abandonment- 'people keep leaving me; that's why I'm better off alone'. biological parents left her, one way or another, sister-to-be left her, best friend left her, adopted parents left her, so she just stops caring
is powerful, but just kind of...wanders through life.

stops the Butcher mostly because she didn't want to die to the Butcher that day
saved Aster when Kayden's apartment complex caught fire (Lung or something similar), mostly because she didn't think a child should live without their mother, and vice versa
physically pulls Taylor (if not actually Taylor) out of Winslow one day because she recognizes the position she's in. Doesn't know what to do with her afterwards though; didn't think that far ahead.

pyrokinetic character
power operates on large scale, and rewards the user for greater area occupied
the fire itself can burn more or less without fuel or oxygen
the more area used, the greater control. small fires, can barely do anything to. bonfires dance to her whims. in a pyroclasm, she is a fucking god
greater control, intensity of heat, might even branch into thermokinesis. illusions perhaps


ghoul gauntlet- the target gets one save, and if they fail they take 3d6 damage per round until they die. not timed; until they die. and then they become a ghoul under your command