Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Random plot seeds

First up; Element Lad!

1) Factions within the UP want to sample the leftover genetic material on Trom, and use time-viewer type technology, to both regrow new Tromnians cloned from those perished, and educate them in the customs, history, etc. of those that died, essentially recreating the race. The political reasons to do this are to gain a new voting bloc, which, having been literally created and educated by the faction pushing this 'humanitarian' project, would logically be 'on their side.' A secondary reason would be to have a population of transmuters, theoretically grateful to their benefactors and available to do all sorts of stuff that Jan Arrah has proven unwilling to do.

Jan Arrah, the 'last son of Trom' is resolutely opposed to this scheme, finding it macabre and soulless.

2) Plot twist. Nobody but Jan Arrah really understands how Tromnian transmutation works. And he's not volunteering to be studied. So only he knows about the Law of Conservation of Transmutation. There's only so much Tromnian transmutation in existence. When there were thousands of Tromnians, each of them had access to that pool of shared power, and could only use a small fraction of it, with a limited range, temporary duration and only able to affect small quantities of matter.

But once Jan became the only Tromnian, he had access to ALL OF IT. He could wave his hand and transmute the atmosphere of the entire Earth to include a tiny percentage of lead, to drop a horde of Daxamites from the skies all over the planet in a second.

If hundreds, or thousands of Tromnians were reborn, Jan would again have only a fraction of his current power (and, the second reason why the faction that wants more Tromnians, to have hundreds of Element-Lad-capable transmuters, would be moot, since they'd all only individually have a small fraction of that power!).

Someone learning this might *think* that Jan is against the rebirth of his world because he'd become almost powerless, compared to his current state, but they'd be wrong. He's opposed to it on spiritual grounds. His people are dead. They have, in a spiritual sense, 'transmuted' beyond corporeal existence, and any new clones created from their genetic material, and force-fed the knowledge of their culture and history, would just be copies of the dead, a mockery.

The 'Law of Conservation of Transmutation' applies to Tromnian transmutation. Other sources, such as the Firestorm matrix, or whatever Captain Atom uses, are totally unrelated. (Or are they? Could Trom, 1000 years ago, have started out with a single colonist harboring the Firestorm matrix, and sharing it with the other colonists to help them survive a hostile resource-poor world? Pity time-viewer technology is so unreliable. We may never know!)

The Law also might explain why Roxxas didn't really understand what he was doing, and why Jan was unable to stop him (lacking any significant amount of power, until his entire race died and left him the sole heir to all that power) before it was too late.

It might also explain why Jan was more recently unable replicate his world-atmosphere-changing stunt, and required help from Earth-Man duplicating his powers, because his power might have been reduced when Cosmic King fairly recently appeared, having somehow synthetically acquired transmutation powers (which, if they are affecting Jan's powers, making him weaker, could somehow be tapping the same source, perhaps by having stolen hair or skin from Jan and spliced it into himself?).

Since Jan's abilities are derived from the background radiation of Trom, I've sometime wondered if they wouldn't weaken with time spent away from the planet.

Great work, Set. That ties a lot of things together nicely!

If his power depends on Trom's radiation, it would be one reason why he returns to Trom to tend the tsarins; not just spiritual but his own physical restoration. The Law of Conservation also serves to diminish the all-mighty power that Jan has sometimes demonstrated.

It's strange that a race with such power couldn't have immobilized Roxxas and his pirates, but Set's proposal that they each only have a fraction of power would be an explanation. Perhaps they lived in widely scattered communities of low population, so they couldn't even muster enough people to combine powers (if that were possible). I wondered if they were like Quakers and would not fight, but that seems hard to justify when you're facing extermination.

They clearly tried to resist. That's why they were slaughtered by Roxxas's pirates. I've always assumed that they just really weren't used to using their abilities in an offensive capacity, and the moment they started showing resistance, the pirates immediately overwhelmed them, realizing what a threat they might be if they really got organized and figured out what they were doing.

Building off Set: what if the appearance of mutant Phlonnians with the ability to control chemical reactions is somehow tied into this Transmutation Force. So, when the Tromites were murdered, the power slowly went elsewhere, but manifest itself in a somewhat different form?

DC in general has kinda played out the idea of some abstract entity/high level concept having to be behind every power, what with the Speed Force and the 17 different lantern colours and the Red and the Green etc etc etc but I really like the idea of a transmutation power which finds a way to exist by just moving on to another population if necessary....you could even look at it as a kind of repair mechanism for the universe, like maybe it's attracted to areas where there's quantum damage or something and without even realising they're doing it, the transmuters are repairing that damage every time they change elements/alter chemical reactions...

Second plot seed;

Gates is the sole member of his species in this universe, or is he? There was a Winath in his univese, a Braal, an Imsk, why can't there be a Vyrga in this one?

Another Legionnaire, we'll go with Chameleon Boy, approaches him with some information fresh out of the border space between the United Planets and the space controlled by the Zazyl queens, a ruthless expansionist insectoid race whose queens use pheremones to control a vast population of drones (and enslaved other species whose worlds they've conquered) to expand their personal fiefdoms, only held in check by their incessant interpersonal squabbling, as various queens attempt to expand into each other's territory. In the holo of a Zazyl attack on a previously-thought-uninhabited world just outside of recognized Zazyl territory, images of a race of beings that resemble Gates are seen! The Vyrgyns of this universe lived in warrens below the surface of the world, and had been overlooked on the last sensor drone pass through that system, decades ago, but now they would become slaves to the Zazyl expansion, if someone didn't do something, and, by luck, their world was just outside of their traditional space. The world was not a UP signatory (the UP not even knowing it existed), so it would be months, if ever, before the UP decided to do anything about it, but the Legion had precedent to operate outside of that sort of bureaucratic paralysis, and so a strike team of Legionnaires sneak in to the very edge of Zazyl-occupied space to free a world's population from the clutches of a rogue queen! (Gates had previously looked into the presence of a Vyrga in this universe, but had found no trace, because Vyrga is in a completely different location in this universe!)

The fight is spectacular. Zazyl queens have small humanoid bodies, but can plug into the massive throne like chitinous construction behind them which rises up as a giant organic battlesuit that looks like a ginormous queen alien from the movie Aliens, and uses all sorts of cheats like weaponized dark matter, red solar radiation, and special chemical vapors that dissolve transsuits and leave everyone exposed to their mind-controlling pheremones. But the Legion prevails.

And discover that, even 'enslaved' by the Zazyl pheremones, the Vyrgans retained enough self-will to refuse to breed, and were dying out, a mere handful of their world's original population surviving the queen's orders (to strip mine Vyrga for resources, as she heartlessly worked them to death destroying their own world). Their world barely habitable (and hardly safe), the remaining Vyrgans are granted refugee status by the United Planets (after some arm-twisting in the senate involving the Legion's *many* friends in the governments of Naltor, Talokk VIII, Bgtzl, Bismoll, etc.). A new world with a similar underground ecosystem, and no native sapient population to compete with is located, but Gates recognizes an opportunity to help these strangers even further...

Coordinating with Legion allies at the Time Institute, he proposes a mission to change nothing and save no one, but to simply exchange some *data* between times and universe, and, after much pointless bickering over possible consequences, is cleared to do so. He travels back into the past, five years, and across the worlds to his previous reality, bringing with him genetic material from a thousand of this universes Vyrgans (Vyrgans taste the blood of another Vyrgan to analyze their genes, and then store that information in a chitinous 'cache' deep within their torso, withdrawing it later, when they wish to lay an egg, they can store information from dozens of others, and have no concept of sexual reproduction, which might explain why they are so cranky). He presents this to individuals on his home world, in exchange for samples of their own gene-plasm, and then returns to his present universe and gives these new samples to the much-depleted Vyrgan refugees, to both greatly diversify their own genetic diversity (as so many different types had died during the Zazyl occupation, leaving only the toughest mine-laborers, hardly a great genetic base to establish a new society!), and also save the genetic legacy of his own people, thought lost with the Reboot universe.

And so, he saves the essence of two races of his people, ensuring that at least something of them remains.

And when Cham asks if he included his own genetic material in the exchange, he chatters (something like a shudder of denial) and says, "And risk passing on my own traits to this fledgling society? Certainly not. They'd collapse into bickering factions within three generations!"

hahahahhaahaha I LOVE it. Brilliant idea, great story, beautiful solution that lays a glimmer of hope for the continuation of the Reboot universe AND gives the Vyrgans a future. And Gates'last line was gold. Well done!

Glad you liked it! Gates is darn close to the last Legionnaire I am burning to write for, despite his fun quirky voice (which is, admittedly, a breath of fresh air, since it's so unique), and yet, he feels like he's got a ton of story just aching to be told. Given his nature, it's kind of insane that he didn't go out *immediately* to find the 'Vyrga' of this new universe he found himself stuck in!

And if the 'Vyrga' of this new universe was in trouble? Even though they aren't 'his people' that he remembers? I think he'd move heaven and earth to help them!

Plot seed three;

Tharok has a Dark Man. Now, meet his Light Men!

Tharok, or, one of his clone's, 'the Dark Man,' created the League of Super-Assassins, more or less. Some were just meta teens stolen away from the Dryadan survivors, one was a last surviving Dryadan native, and one (or more) had their powers artificially created. The energy being Quanto, who had a short-lived run as a super-villain in the Taurus Gang, had fallen into Tharok's clutches some time back, and Tharok had done some preliminary experiments on stealing his powers, only to give up on that when it was not immediately fruitful and instead make a younger clone to serve as one of his 'Super-Assassins.' And so, even more than the others, Chey-Nu has been lied to all his life, not even being a native of that doomed world.

But this isn't his story. Tharok has learned of a source of darkness within the heart of Talokk VIII, one that Shadow Lass feeds somehow everytime she uses her powers, sending light into the darkness through some mystical means. Exactly what's going on here is anybody's guess. Is there a dark entity slumbering there, and she's strengthening the bonds that hold it there? Is she *weakening* the bonds that hold it there, and unwittingly hastening her world's destruction? Is it an 'egg' of sorts, slowly gestating and will it crack Talokk VIII when it 'hatches?' Is she feeding the cooling heart of this old, old world, and keeping it vibrant and alive? Tharok wants to know, particularly if it's power, great destructive power, is it power that he can seize and direct and control, the way he does Validus? Or just power that he can unleash to wreak havoc, 'cause that's good clean fun, for him.

And so, with what he's learned from cloning Quanto to create Lazon, he creates a new set of 'Dark Men' clones of himself, with the spliced-in powers of Quanto, and there's a half-dozen of these 'Light Men,' each with the powers of Lazon, and the malevolent intellect of Tharok, and they travel to Talokk VIII, to descend deep into the dark heart of that world and unleash light like it's never seen before. Who knows what will happen.

But as the saying goes, "It's like giving a revolver to chimpanzee. I don't know what's going to happen, but I bet it'll make the papers!"

The Legion will have to assemble a team to counter these Light Men that are able to survive a fight with a bunch of Lazons. Mon-El, Invisible Kid, Shadow Lass, etc. People either super-fast, super-invulnerable, or somehow able to negate or bypass the effects of light. And what of Quanto? Last seen, he (and Mystelor) had turned away from a life of crime, and were just trying to make their way in the universe. Is there still time to rescue him from Tharok's custody, and deny Tharok the ability to make a bunch more 'Light Men?'

LOL. I love it just on the principle that these Light Men are basically my Invisible Brainiac LMB character on steroids

A half-dozen Lazon clones with Tharok's brain would be hella dangerous, I am here for it ....especially if they figure out how to adjust their wavelengths to become x-rays/electricity/etc

Plot seed 4;

On various colony worlds, far from the central UP where the SP have a firmer presence, a new fad has struck. Z-packs! They're exactly the sort of 'gray-market' tech that the Science Police like to keep an eye on, and it's hardly a surprise they've only 'caught on' on worlds that have a smaller than normal (or sketchier than normal) SP presence, such as Rimbor (corrupt), Avalon (not a UP world) and Talokk VIII (terribly stubborn).

The Z-Pack is a biotech chestpiece and helmet that adhere to the wearer and link to their nervous system, and then unfurl a series of insectoid wings that possess sufficient (superhuman) strength and speed to provide lift. The helmet includes some instinctive guidance that makes even a normally ground-bound sapient able to fly as if born to the ability, with these organic wings. A special spray causes the carapace to withdraw it's interface tendrils and detach painlessly, for ease of use.

They're super-popular with the young and adventurous, giving them the capability of flight, and the skill to use this capability with the safety of someone with a lifetime of experience flying!

.

And, the big secret, when it's exposed to a special pollen from a Zazyl queen, the bond becomes permanent, and the carapace grows to cover the entire body of the hapless victim, while the 'instinctive flight programming' expands to full neural co-opting of the host, turning them into a Zazyl drone, armored, strong, fast and flight-capable, and even more susceptible than most to Zazyl control pheremones, making them slavishly devoted to their new queen...

So, yeah. Instant army. Just add enthusiastic young sentients *paying* for the opportunity to become Zazyl drones!

On Lythyl;

This brutal world used to be ruled by 'The Five,' a collection of supreme martial artists of different schools, each of whom had fought their way to the pinnacle of their craft, and were deemed the strongest and most fit to rule. The Golden Phoenix, Black Dragon, Crimson Tiger, Jade Tortoise and White Crane seats were occupied by the fiercest warriors, and, unfortunately, not always the wisest in the philosophy of their schools...

In the last generation, the holder of the Black Dragon seat grew corrupt, far more so than usual for this already brutal world that had fallen far from it's ideals, working openly with pirates, smugglers, slavers and worse, and when the subtle teachings of the Jade Tortoise threatened to turn the populace against his tyranny, he had that worthy assassinated, shocking the conscience of several of his fellow rulers. The Crimson Tiger had already sided with him, seduced by a might-makes-right philosophy that catered to her own strong sense of black and white morality, and inclination towards violent justice, as the Black Dragon had found that, in some cases, words were indeed the strongest weapons, against a warrior such as herself. But the Golden Phoenix and the White Crane united in opposition, and a fierce battle ensued. The Golden Phoenix was a showman and a demagogue, and his battle against the Crimson Tiger was arranged just so, in the midst of both of their cheering forces, to draw many eyes, that he might put on a great show of overcoming evil before his followers and so grow his fame.

Instead his end was brutal, as she smashed him from the air, his flamboyant style and need to show off no need for her brutal and direct moves.

The fight between the White Crane and Black Dragon involved much less spectacle, as neither spared a thought for showmanship, and there was subterfuge, attempts by the Black Dragon to escape or lure the other into an ambush or trap, etc. In the process, the Black Dragon's followers took the torch to the White Crane school, intending to root out all who opposed their lord. When the end came, it happened in the shadows, in a district of the main city ravaged by poverty and despair, where the haughty Black Dragon would never have come, otherwise. The White Crane, sickened by the necessity for this fatal violence, in contradiction to the teachings of his own school, took the Black Dragon's son, himself trained by his cruel father as a living weapon (and thrown by his father into the fight at the end as a distraction, meant to die to save his father's craven life), and left Lythyl, thinking never to return.

Crimson Tiger was left alone, blood on her fists, the last remaining ruler of 'The Five,' and the next highest ranking warriors of the Jade Tortoise and Golden Phoenix schools agitated for her head. (The Black Dragon school was in disarray, as the death of their ruler could not be confirmed, and they dithered, splitting into factions that awaited his return, or attempted to supplant him.) Instead of having to eventually fight every other person on Lythyl to remain sole ruler, Crimson Tiger appointed her two strongest challengers to be her equals in a new ruling body, The Three. (While the Black Dragon school eventually withered into irrelevance, fading into the criminal underground their leader had fostered.)

And so Lythyl remains today, ruled by The Three.

Myg held the Golden Phoenix seat, something of an irony, as his mother killed one of his predecessors.

Oh, did I mention that Crimson Tiger had a son, that she raised in the same way as her ally, the Black Dragon?

Some might whisper that the Crimson Tiger was more than 'an ally' to the Black Dragon, and that they had more than long talks about philosophy of rulership in common. But that way lies madness, for it would suggest that Myg could be Val Amorrs half-brother, and that's not a comparison Myg wants to invite. At all.

I am in favour of anything that gives Lythyl some more backstory, and touches on the martial arts world of the Legion's time some more! I always kinda thought it was a waste how Val was given an origin which begs for exploration, and nobody ever really did anything at all with it. Ditto with introducing Myg to just pop up in backgrounds at the Academy occasionally instead of using him to explore a genre of storytelling the Legion doesn't normally go anywhere near.

Yeah, Myg was a huge missed opportunity, I thought. And Lythyl, too, but the Legion has always had trouble focusing on individual members homeworlds, since there are like 25 of them at any given time. It's not like Teen Titans, where we can spend half a year dealing with Tamaranean stuff. Visits to Legionnaires homeworlds tend to be very 'wham, bam, thank you Sam.'

I loved Myg's backstory compared to the other Legionnaires. He didn't grow up in the quasi-Utopian United Planets. (To be fair, neither did Tellus or Ultra Boy or various other Legionnaires...) It seems like every moment of his life was another challenge, another threat to face down, and I could see him being super-hard to get along with, just because he regards any attempt to even engage him in conversation as a challenge to be faced down, if not an actual deadly threat! And yet he's clearly been able to adjust, since he's at the Academy and hasn't killed (or been killed by!) any of his teachers or fellow students.

I definitely had no desire to explore the idea that he developed sonic powers or had his meta-gene activated or whatever, as was implied, IIRC. I much prefer him 'just' being an amazing martial artist, like Val before him. (Plus, with Tyroc having been retconned into sonic powers, as opposed to whatever screams-do-rando-whatever business he had before, it would be kinda redundant.)

Superboy Prime was a bit put out that like, 90% of the villains in his 'Legion of Super-Villains' (during Legion of 3 Worlds) couldn't fly. And Saturn Queen could sense that, even if he was hardly subtle about expressing his displeasure. Rather than risk him losing his fragile grip on his temper and just incinerating the annoyingly slow members of their 'supervillain army,' she linked up Tharok and Cosmic King and asked if they could replicate the Legion Flight Ring, using their combined genius and transmutation abilities, and after scoffing, Tharok found his mind already hard at work on the problem, because he couldn't resist a good challenge... (Darn that woman! She played him!)
And so Cosmic King rose to the challenge and crafted a dozen rings of Nth metal, forming them from 'thin air,' more or less. And Tharok embedded them with command and control microcircuitry that responded to the will of the wearer, allowing them to direct the anti-gravity field, and allow for flight. (And communication, because he wasn't about to let Brainiac 5 show him up that badly!)

Still, Tharok didn't have years, or a lab, or a twelth-level intellect, or the firmest grasp of how Nth metal worked, so the Legion of Super-Villain Flight Rings are not quite up to snuff. They get the job done, but are still quite a bit slower than the Legion versions, and have a much more limited communication facility (a range in kilometers, as opposed to the Legion ones, that tap into galactic comms networks and can access SP broadcast frequencies, among other things). The gravity field is also quite similar to the first generation of Legion Flight Rings, being strongest around the ring itself (and therefore causing their users to often fly with one arm extended, as it sometimes feels, particularly when they are lifting off or accelerating, like they are being yanked upwards by their arm!).

Today's Legion Flight Rings don't have that problem, and the antigravity field extends equally around the wearers entire body, so that they feel like they are floating up or forward, being fully supported at all points.

Still, for a half-hours work, using trashed equipment pillaged from Takron-Galtos security networks (and reshaped by nano-tech) and an anti-gravity metal he'd never actually laid eyes on, Tharok's pretty proud of those LSV Flight Rings! (And, bonus, Prime didn't flip out and incinerate everyone who was 'slowing him down.')

Most of which are back on Takron-Galtos, given the inevitable defeat of their wearers...