Crucible Recap:
As per Gordon’s request, here’s a (hopefully) brief recap of what has transpired. There’ll be some insights in this as well to cover things not really explained all that well.
The story began on July 5th, 1986. That’s the year the files on the main site take place and chronologically its about 6 weeks past any of those stories. (But we had a rough idea of what was going to transpire during that time.)
The White Event that happened that day was the convergence of three separate events going off at the same time. The first was triggered by Malachite, the master geneticist. He had learned of the existence of the Q’rrm effect from his studies of Tigress and Tempest in the Young Champions files.
(The Q’rrm Effect is from an old Champions module Atlas Unleashed. The Q’rrm Effect is a type of white energy that when in contact the user can direct. It has ‘wish fulfillment’ type of power and has played a part in the origin of several heroes and villains. This energy exists in a dimension parallel to our own and there are certain places where the boundaries are weak enough for the Effect to pour through naturally or with help. The Effect has turned up in the later issues of the Avengers.)
Malachite decides to conduct an experiment. He has determined that a place where the barrier between dimensions is weak is located in San Diego, California. By firing a pulse laser at a specific frequency, it is possible to cause a momentary rip between dimensions allowing the Q'rrm energy to issue forth. To this end, he is going to cause the energy to manifest in an attempt to trigger specifically designed mutations, coupled with genetic manipulation.
Malachite has been seeking the perfect mate to meet up with his own standards or perfection. He shall use this experiment to attempt to create his ideal mate. To this end he is attempt to mutate several women. Two of them were to clones of Tigress and Tempest. The other two genetically engineered females.
A special saucer was built to rip open the rift and to hold chambers to hold the four women he was hoping to create.
Crucible Recap
Crucible Recap
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Page 2
The second fraction was a collection of demons and mages who were seeking to summon a Nether Lord to Earth. The Blood known as Affrighter was somewhat behind this, as he is always trying to gain god-like power through one mad scheme after another.
The others involved in this was a family of demons. The leader of the clan is the Denier. The man who became the Denier was a polo victim in his youth and longed for all those things he never had while sick. So he sold his soul in exchange for power and eternal life. Today the Denier revels in destruction and the pleasures of the flesh denied him in his mortal life.
The Denier has two children. The first is Devilspawn who is a free spirit who delights in chaos and perverting the innocent. (Thing of her as a magic using succubus.)
The other child is a son named Hellfire. He resembles a walking ruby filled with fiery energy. He can alter his limbs to a variety of weapons. Loves to kill and comes across as a movie slasher ala Freddy or Jason.
The demons joined in this as they figured it was a wonderful way to cause more chaos and perhaps corrupt a few more souls.
The third fraction is the one least known about. It involves Timeshift, a PC from my old Q games. That player was going to reprise his role in the character, but it never came about. Timeshift is a scientist in the future who is obsessed with time travel. He built his own time machine, but something when wrong. He was, literally, fractured into numerous copies of himself and each copy was sent to a different time. However, each is not an exact copy, rather each fragment is only part of the whole, so Timeshift is not entirely all there so to speak. His mind is like Swiss cheese, but he becomes better as more copies are integrated back into him.
The others involved in this was a family of demons. The leader of the clan is the Denier. The man who became the Denier was a polo victim in his youth and longed for all those things he never had while sick. So he sold his soul in exchange for power and eternal life. Today the Denier revels in destruction and the pleasures of the flesh denied him in his mortal life.
The Denier has two children. The first is Devilspawn who is a free spirit who delights in chaos and perverting the innocent. (Thing of her as a magic using succubus.)
The other child is a son named Hellfire. He resembles a walking ruby filled with fiery energy. He can alter his limbs to a variety of weapons. Loves to kill and comes across as a movie slasher ala Freddy or Jason.
The demons joined in this as they figured it was a wonderful way to cause more chaos and perhaps corrupt a few more souls.
The third fraction is the one least known about. It involves Timeshift, a PC from my old Q games. That player was going to reprise his role in the character, but it never came about. Timeshift is a scientist in the future who is obsessed with time travel. He built his own time machine, but something when wrong. He was, literally, fractured into numerous copies of himself and each copy was sent to a different time. However, each is not an exact copy, rather each fragment is only part of the whole, so Timeshift is not entirely all there so to speak. His mind is like Swiss cheese, but he becomes better as more copies are integrated back into him.
Try it and find out!
Page 3
These three fractions unleashed forces in the same area at the same time with spectacular, but devastating results. It created a rift in time and space that the Q’rrm Effect rushed to fill in covering Downtown San Diego. Most exposed to this combined radiation perished. Many others were changed, depending on what they were thinking at the time. Some mutations were beneficial others were far more malevolent.
Daigon, the self-styled demoness who worked for Malachite on the promise that he’d cure her of a disease she suffered from, was transformed into a true demon.
The four women Malachite was trying to great were all changed. The Tigress and Tempest clones became more feral and unstable. They took the names Wildcat and Gale Force. The other two became Goldstar and Serena.
Time itself was messed up due to the rift. The past, the present, and the future all freely existed with in the white bubble. A T-rex stomped past a 25th century museum. In the past, the White Event granted super intelligence to an ordinary dinosaur. He was the first of what would become as the race known as the Saurians.
Chaos ensued along with numerous battles until Timeshift appeared and seemed to ‘close’ the bubble. The overlapping time effects did vanish, but the problems caused by it were far from over. The Vigilant came into being during this time.
The bubble spanned out dimensional as well. Caught up in this effect was a living hospital ship that came to be known as Edgar. He appeared in San Diego Bay in the form of a castle on an island. A man calling himself the Warlord has taken control of Edgar. The Warlord was from a medieval-like world where magic existed. They were defeated by the Vigilant and Edgar was freed. He then bounded with Goldstar to become the Edgar you all knew.
The White Event decimated the Steel Squadron, the hometown hero team. A few were killed by it, and others horrible transformed. There was also a suggestion that the Squadron had a VIPER connect. This was later heightened when the Foundry, the Squadron base, was raided by a Mech-Viper.
Daigon, the self-styled demoness who worked for Malachite on the promise that he’d cure her of a disease she suffered from, was transformed into a true demon.
The four women Malachite was trying to great were all changed. The Tigress and Tempest clones became more feral and unstable. They took the names Wildcat and Gale Force. The other two became Goldstar and Serena.
Time itself was messed up due to the rift. The past, the present, and the future all freely existed with in the white bubble. A T-rex stomped past a 25th century museum. In the past, the White Event granted super intelligence to an ordinary dinosaur. He was the first of what would become as the race known as the Saurians.
Chaos ensued along with numerous battles until Timeshift appeared and seemed to ‘close’ the bubble. The overlapping time effects did vanish, but the problems caused by it were far from over. The Vigilant came into being during this time.
The bubble spanned out dimensional as well. Caught up in this effect was a living hospital ship that came to be known as Edgar. He appeared in San Diego Bay in the form of a castle on an island. A man calling himself the Warlord has taken control of Edgar. The Warlord was from a medieval-like world where magic existed. They were defeated by the Vigilant and Edgar was freed. He then bounded with Goldstar to become the Edgar you all knew.
The White Event decimated the Steel Squadron, the hometown hero team. A few were killed by it, and others horrible transformed. There was also a suggestion that the Squadron had a VIPER connect. This was later heightened when the Foundry, the Squadron base, was raided by a Mech-Viper.
Try it and find out!
Page 4
The Vigilant ran across certain supers a few times. One was Chimera, a woman who was able to fly using translucent energy wings. The exact nature of her powers hasn’t really be revealed yet, but she was collecting members for a group of superpowered women she dubbed the Furies. While it hasn’t be revealed in game, Chimera had her powers before the White Event. She just kept a low profile.
Devilspawn turned up a few times. Once she was drawn to a makeshift morgue in a Downtown sports arena. There the Monster was recovering from his being ‘killed’. A zombie-mutant that feed and survived on magical energy used Devilspawn as a power source.
Later it was discovered that the summoning they were carrying out wasn’t a complete failure. Magical energy was seeping into this dimension. Unfortunately, it was coming from a dimension where Shadow Demons had been imprisoned. (As shown in X-Factor #4)
The White Event further mutated Major Star, the leader of the local PRIMUS base. His nuclear energy infused body changed into all energy with explosive results. Goldstar managed to carry him away before he could go critical in San Diego. The Major exploded in space and Goldstar was sent flying from the blast.
Aided by Starguard, some of the Vigilant rescued Goldstar out in the Ort Cloud, a halo of leftover debris that surrounds the Solar System. But someone else had found Goldstar first. A damaged Tyrixx battleship was using the heroine as a power source. The Tyrixx were defeated and their ship destroyed.
Still others took advantage of the situation in San Diego to further their own agendas. The Engineer raided an Advance Design Technology building in Downtown San Diego. She had learned that a Minuteman Mark 7 was being constructed there. The Engineer wanted it for herself in her battle to destroy Mechanon.
The action didn’t go unnoticed by Genocide, the mutant hunting organization who was building the Minuteman. Genocide agents led by the Black Queen soon arrived along with a dozen Minutemen Mark 5 robots. While Genocide was soundly defeated, the Engineer was only barely stopped.
At the same time, Terror Unlimited raid the Caliente Nuclear Research Lab, the facility where Flux worked in his secret identity. They were attempting to steal the experimental Fast Breeder Reactor. They were stopped, but not before unleashing a chain reaction!
Devilspawn turned up a few times. Once she was drawn to a makeshift morgue in a Downtown sports arena. There the Monster was recovering from his being ‘killed’. A zombie-mutant that feed and survived on magical energy used Devilspawn as a power source.
Later it was discovered that the summoning they were carrying out wasn’t a complete failure. Magical energy was seeping into this dimension. Unfortunately, it was coming from a dimension where Shadow Demons had been imprisoned. (As shown in X-Factor #4)
The White Event further mutated Major Star, the leader of the local PRIMUS base. His nuclear energy infused body changed into all energy with explosive results. Goldstar managed to carry him away before he could go critical in San Diego. The Major exploded in space and Goldstar was sent flying from the blast.
Aided by Starguard, some of the Vigilant rescued Goldstar out in the Ort Cloud, a halo of leftover debris that surrounds the Solar System. But someone else had found Goldstar first. A damaged Tyrixx battleship was using the heroine as a power source. The Tyrixx were defeated and their ship destroyed.
Still others took advantage of the situation in San Diego to further their own agendas. The Engineer raided an Advance Design Technology building in Downtown San Diego. She had learned that a Minuteman Mark 7 was being constructed there. The Engineer wanted it for herself in her battle to destroy Mechanon.
The action didn’t go unnoticed by Genocide, the mutant hunting organization who was building the Minuteman. Genocide agents led by the Black Queen soon arrived along with a dozen Minutemen Mark 5 robots. While Genocide was soundly defeated, the Engineer was only barely stopped.
At the same time, Terror Unlimited raid the Caliente Nuclear Research Lab, the facility where Flux worked in his secret identity. They were attempting to steal the experimental Fast Breeder Reactor. They were stopped, but not before unleashing a chain reaction!
Try it and find out!
Page 5
Elsewhere in Downtown San Diego, something from the past was forcing its way into the present. It was an ancestor from the dinosaur who became intelligent over a million years earlier. They had discovered that giant asteroid was going to impact on what we call the Yucatan Peninsula that would result in the extinction of the dinosaur. They had sensed the power build up of the Fast Breeder reactor and intended to use it to destroy the asteroid.
The Saurian Scientist appeared in the future and drained the energy away. Blackout, Frostbite, and Goldstar were on hand for this. The Saurian succeeded, and retreated to the past with the stolen energy, pulling the three heroes along with him.
In the distant past, the asteroid that would have ended the reign of the dinosaurs dominated the sky. The Saurians fired the weapon, destroying it! Reality was altered at that moment and events unfolded differently. With the dinosaurs not dying out, humanity never rose. The Saurians continued to become scientifically advanced, but never lost their predator instinct. They continued to conquer all around them.
Goldstar flew of to see what happened for herself. The asteroid-smasher was fired a second time, striking the solar-powered heroine. She was knocked unconscious and flung into deep space.
All felt the sweeping changes. In present, only the existence of the White Event bubble prevented downtown San Diego from being changed. Timeshift only removed some of the bubbles effects, not the bubble itself. Everything inside the bubble existed in temporal grace and was unaffected by the changes to the timestream.
With the Saurians saved, the moved into the bubble in great ships to eliminate those humans who were still around. The Vigilant in this time struggled against the invaders.
A third group, Menagerie, Flux and Tilt were flung into the far future on a time ripple that issued forth from the bubble. The ended up two billion years in the future.
The disappearance of her mother so traumatized Rose that her cosmic powers kicked in. Rose has the ability to draw open Zero Point energy, the theoretical energy that remains from the Big Bang itself, and an infinite power source with unlimited potential. Those powers, coupled with the energy bubble and Edgar’s own extra-dimensional nature flung Edgar and all inside him also in the future. But not as far into the future as Flux and company were.
Time passed for those with Edgar. Rose’s energy burst had helped heal Edgar and he was free to move from dimension to dimension once more. They continued to flee from the Saurians were also were expanding from dimension to dimension. Eventually only Rose and Edgar remained.
The Saurian Scientist appeared in the future and drained the energy away. Blackout, Frostbite, and Goldstar were on hand for this. The Saurian succeeded, and retreated to the past with the stolen energy, pulling the three heroes along with him.
In the distant past, the asteroid that would have ended the reign of the dinosaurs dominated the sky. The Saurians fired the weapon, destroying it! Reality was altered at that moment and events unfolded differently. With the dinosaurs not dying out, humanity never rose. The Saurians continued to become scientifically advanced, but never lost their predator instinct. They continued to conquer all around them.
Goldstar flew of to see what happened for herself. The asteroid-smasher was fired a second time, striking the solar-powered heroine. She was knocked unconscious and flung into deep space.
All felt the sweeping changes. In present, only the existence of the White Event bubble prevented downtown San Diego from being changed. Timeshift only removed some of the bubbles effects, not the bubble itself. Everything inside the bubble existed in temporal grace and was unaffected by the changes to the timestream.
With the Saurians saved, the moved into the bubble in great ships to eliminate those humans who were still around. The Vigilant in this time struggled against the invaders.
A third group, Menagerie, Flux and Tilt were flung into the far future on a time ripple that issued forth from the bubble. The ended up two billion years in the future.
The disappearance of her mother so traumatized Rose that her cosmic powers kicked in. Rose has the ability to draw open Zero Point energy, the theoretical energy that remains from the Big Bang itself, and an infinite power source with unlimited potential. Those powers, coupled with the energy bubble and Edgar’s own extra-dimensional nature flung Edgar and all inside him also in the future. But not as far into the future as Flux and company were.
Time passed for those with Edgar. Rose’s energy burst had helped heal Edgar and he was free to move from dimension to dimension once more. They continued to flee from the Saurians were also were expanding from dimension to dimension. Eventually only Rose and Edgar remained.
Try it and find out!
Page 6
Goldstar eventually recovered from being blasted by the Asteriod-smasher. But she found herself far from home with no idea which direction to go. Goldstar’s powers mimic that of the stars themselves. She’s extremely long lived and can produce a wide variety of stellar effects. These powers continued to grow with the passing of the centuries.
Finally, Goldstar located Earth once more. However, it was well past the point where the Saurians had eliminated the bubble over Downtown San Diego. Edgar was gone as were all other humans. Goldstar discovered that she could now warp space so severely as to be able to effectively time travel on her own. Goldstar attempted to travel into the past, but the Saurians were prepared for this. They had set up temporal mines to destroy any time travel that didn’t possess Saurian DNA. The mines flung Goldstar out of the time stream and she was stranded in the distant past for a second time. Goldstar consciously avoiding encountering her other self during this time line.
Eventually Goldstar caught up with Edgar thanks to the link they shared. The trio decided to try and undo the damage that the Saurians had done to time. While Edgar could conceal them from the Saurians, both Goldstar and Rose could be tracked. Any time they tried to commandeer a Time Station, the Saurians destroyed it first. To put things right, they needed help.
That’s where Flux, Lily, and Tilt re-entered the picture. Based on the scans that Edgar took back in the past, they had a rough idea when the three would appear in the future. So they planned to be there so that they could great them. The Saurians had the same idea.
Some two billion years in the future, the three appeared on a vastly different Earth. The sun was beginning to swell into a red giant. It was already larger than Mercury’s orbit. The Earth’s oceans boiled away and the planet was bathed in radiation.
Contact with Edgar was reestablished and Goldstar and Rose were sent to great them. The Saurians sent an armada to destroy the last humans. While Rose fled with the Vigilant members, Goldstar unleashed her most devastating stellar power. She warped gravity about her so much that she became a living black hole. The Saurian armada was destroyed, along with the Solar System. Rose flew everyone faster than light back to Edgar.
The situation was explained the heroes from the past and what needed to be done. Lily’s mimic power was needed to fool the Saurians DNA detection. A time station was successfully raided and all the other Vigilant members are drawn here from various points in the past. Edgar took control of the Saurian time station.
A plan to change what had happened was covered and several of the heroes had minor medical ailments cured by Edgar. The plan was to send the Vigilant members back in time into their own bodies the day before the White Event. They believed that such a thing would go unnoticed by the Saurians since those people were already there. Neither Goldstar, Rose, or Edgar could go however. Goodbyes were said and the Vigilant when back to the past.
However, things were not exactly as everyone remembered them to be. Lily was now married with two children. Flux choose a different apartment this time around and Frostbite’s mother is now alive.
(Given the flexible nature of what is going on, the PC’s were allowed to make reasonable changes to their own pasts. The exact reason for these changes, apart from Lily’s husband and second daughter, is unknown.)
Finally, Goldstar located Earth once more. However, it was well past the point where the Saurians had eliminated the bubble over Downtown San Diego. Edgar was gone as were all other humans. Goldstar discovered that she could now warp space so severely as to be able to effectively time travel on her own. Goldstar attempted to travel into the past, but the Saurians were prepared for this. They had set up temporal mines to destroy any time travel that didn’t possess Saurian DNA. The mines flung Goldstar out of the time stream and she was stranded in the distant past for a second time. Goldstar consciously avoiding encountering her other self during this time line.
Eventually Goldstar caught up with Edgar thanks to the link they shared. The trio decided to try and undo the damage that the Saurians had done to time. While Edgar could conceal them from the Saurians, both Goldstar and Rose could be tracked. Any time they tried to commandeer a Time Station, the Saurians destroyed it first. To put things right, they needed help.
That’s where Flux, Lily, and Tilt re-entered the picture. Based on the scans that Edgar took back in the past, they had a rough idea when the three would appear in the future. So they planned to be there so that they could great them. The Saurians had the same idea.
Some two billion years in the future, the three appeared on a vastly different Earth. The sun was beginning to swell into a red giant. It was already larger than Mercury’s orbit. The Earth’s oceans boiled away and the planet was bathed in radiation.
Contact with Edgar was reestablished and Goldstar and Rose were sent to great them. The Saurians sent an armada to destroy the last humans. While Rose fled with the Vigilant members, Goldstar unleashed her most devastating stellar power. She warped gravity about her so much that she became a living black hole. The Saurian armada was destroyed, along with the Solar System. Rose flew everyone faster than light back to Edgar.
The situation was explained the heroes from the past and what needed to be done. Lily’s mimic power was needed to fool the Saurians DNA detection. A time station was successfully raided and all the other Vigilant members are drawn here from various points in the past. Edgar took control of the Saurian time station.
A plan to change what had happened was covered and several of the heroes had minor medical ailments cured by Edgar. The plan was to send the Vigilant members back in time into their own bodies the day before the White Event. They believed that such a thing would go unnoticed by the Saurians since those people were already there. Neither Goldstar, Rose, or Edgar could go however. Goodbyes were said and the Vigilant when back to the past.
However, things were not exactly as everyone remembered them to be. Lily was now married with two children. Flux choose a different apartment this time around and Frostbite’s mother is now alive.
(Given the flexible nature of what is going on, the PC’s were allowed to make reasonable changes to their own pasts. The exact reason for these changes, apart from Lily’s husband and second daughter, is unknown.)
Try it and find out!
Page 7
The present day Vigilant gathered to further plan who to prevent the White Event, the cause of all this trouble. The existence of a Vigilant Incorporated became known and the heroes went to check this out. Vigilant Incorporated was a security firm here in the present. The CEO was a Ms. Gloria Starr.
Once in a room secure from monitoring by the Saurians, Gloria filled in some details. The Goldstar, Rose, and Edgar in the future continued to plot and came up with other ways to put things right once more. While Goldstar could not physically return here, Gloria could. She was essentially a genetically engineered copy of Goldstar. Gloria was human, but able to transform into Stargirl who possessed powers similar to Goldstar.
It also turned out that the Saurians focused so much attention to the time near and around the White Event, that minor changes to the times before it went virtually unnoticed. By using this method, Stargirl was able to invisibly accumulate wealth, construct a base for the Vigilant to use, and prepare for the White Event.
Rose wanted to help too and she wanted to make things right for her mother. Rose’s father had abandoned Lily when he found out she was pregnant, so Rose never had a father and her mother vanished when she was eight. Rose would not let that happen a second time.
So, manipulation was used to ensure that Anton didn’t abandon Lily. Rose would now grow up normally. However, that didn’t provide Rose with a way to physically help out in the present. Unlike Goldstar/Stargirl, Rose’s adult power couldn’t be contained or controlled by her younger self. However, if it was spread over two beings, then that might work.
Thus Blossom was born, Rose’s identical in every way twin. The present day version of the adult Rose called herself Cosmic Girl, a reflection of her powers. Rose and Blossom both held half of Cosmic Girl’s essence. When unleashed, it formed Cosmic Girl. But Cosmic Girl could only exist for an hour at a time before having to return to the twins. The twins were unaware of what they carried nor could they access it until there were older and more prepared for that kind of power.
Then the Saurians made an unexpected move. They sent a warship to present day San Diego. It hovers invisible over the city, but has of yet taken any action. In response to this, Stargirl moved the Vigilant to the off shore base and summoned Cosmic Girl.
That’s the gist of what transpired. Not everything that happened was covered, but the above was the events pertinent to the current situation. Any questions?
Once in a room secure from monitoring by the Saurians, Gloria filled in some details. The Goldstar, Rose, and Edgar in the future continued to plot and came up with other ways to put things right once more. While Goldstar could not physically return here, Gloria could. She was essentially a genetically engineered copy of Goldstar. Gloria was human, but able to transform into Stargirl who possessed powers similar to Goldstar.
It also turned out that the Saurians focused so much attention to the time near and around the White Event, that minor changes to the times before it went virtually unnoticed. By using this method, Stargirl was able to invisibly accumulate wealth, construct a base for the Vigilant to use, and prepare for the White Event.
Rose wanted to help too and she wanted to make things right for her mother. Rose’s father had abandoned Lily when he found out she was pregnant, so Rose never had a father and her mother vanished when she was eight. Rose would not let that happen a second time.
So, manipulation was used to ensure that Anton didn’t abandon Lily. Rose would now grow up normally. However, that didn’t provide Rose with a way to physically help out in the present. Unlike Goldstar/Stargirl, Rose’s adult power couldn’t be contained or controlled by her younger self. However, if it was spread over two beings, then that might work.
Thus Blossom was born, Rose’s identical in every way twin. The present day version of the adult Rose called herself Cosmic Girl, a reflection of her powers. Rose and Blossom both held half of Cosmic Girl’s essence. When unleashed, it formed Cosmic Girl. But Cosmic Girl could only exist for an hour at a time before having to return to the twins. The twins were unaware of what they carried nor could they access it until there were older and more prepared for that kind of power.
Then the Saurians made an unexpected move. They sent a warship to present day San Diego. It hovers invisible over the city, but has of yet taken any action. In response to this, Stargirl moved the Vigilant to the off shore base and summoned Cosmic Girl.
That’s the gist of what transpired. Not everything that happened was covered, but the above was the events pertinent to the current situation. Any questions?
Try it and find out!