Plot: UE is attacking! ...We think?

[falsehoods]

Starting on Friday the 29th and ending on Monday, April 1st Exsilium will be under attack by the United Earth!

Only, no, not really. Attacks will apparently be occurring in the northern parts of the city, while UE vessels will be sighted sweeping over the Hold, visible one moment and gone the next. Soldiers to the North will behave erratically as well and also disappear. Some new form of stealth technology? Or could you really swear they were ever there to begin with?

On April 1st Loki will reveal that he was responsible for the "attacks" and that he was trying to prove a point: that the Initiative is incompetent in actual warfare. April fools!

Before then, though, people will be able to investigate the attacks and determine that something is off about them.

-Observation of the soldiers will show they only mutter the same few phrases and that they behave like a very primitive AI. Killing them will cause them to turn into rubble or simply vanish.
-In combat, it is possible to be killed by the soldiers when in melee range of them. They fight viciously but without any creativity meaning it is easy to trick them and they will never actually chase anyone down. Curiously, while they may seem to be armed with firearms they will never actually use them...
-Soldiers will attack people in the northern outskirts of the city, but will not seem to progress further south.
-People who try to detect magic when soldiers or vehicles of the UE are present will detect a lot of it.
-The bombers that sweep over the Hold do show up with heat signatures but since it's the heat of magic, their signatures will be strange.
-The bombers will never actually attack the Hold.

Some people who are familiar with Loki's canonical shenanigans (or the shenanigans of his mythic self) are welcome to suspect him.

Questions? Comments? Plotting? Do so here!

((This is all Mod Approved))

Comments

[icy_heavens]

Oooh, spiffy!

Hitsugaya will likely realize something ain't right after a skirmish or two, and be able to sense magical presence when it occurs to him to look for it.

Cissa (how_fascinating) is all about the long-range combat. Hooray for guns! And rocket launchers. And bombs. Wheee~! She will be totally willing to build all this junk for people and try to guard the perimeter. If she gets up close and personal enough to see them turn to rubble or vanish, she will be SO FASCINATED. And will try to conduct scientific tests on the rubble.

So. Anybody want my short people?

[governorkang]

Question! If someone with the natural ability to see heat signatures were to run into a soldier, would it be the same as the bombers?

[falsehoods]

Yep! With them, what would be noticeable is that, while there is heat (from magic), it is definitely not the heat of a human body. Kang could see that right away.

[needsteaplz]

Saori would be able to sense something is off. At the same time, she could use a good way to vent out some stress by beating said soldiers. Anyone want to aid her?

She might suspect Loki. Doesn't help her universe's version was a major prick to her.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

man I am going to be out of town but I can't resist having Nate do something. How do the 'soldiers' read psionically?

[falsehoods]

Nothing! They will exhibit no complex thought whatsoever. Or even any thought.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

Nate will at first be vaguely terrified that UE has psi-dampeners or something - and then just irritated.

[velveteened]

so, like - the soldiers actually are corporeal? i'm assuming, since they can actually kill people, but just to check

[falsehoods]

Some are, some aren't. Which kinds players want to have their characters run into is up to them.

The corporeal ones are disguised golems. The non-corporeal ones are just illusions.

[dusk_and_dawn]

Huh, how is Balder supposed to ride up to the castle and yell at Loki when there are no horses? Maybe he can find a large cat ... or a riding ferret ...

[falsehoods]

[dusk_and_dawn]

Good idea! He'll ask to borrow Naga!

[maddeninghatter]

Do these soldiers look like the United Earth Masked or do they have a more generic soldierish appearance?

[falsehoods]

Loki bases their appearance off the patrols he sees in the borderlands and around the northern perimeters so, yes! They look like the Masked. They do not, however, move like the Masked.

[maddeninghatter]

ok thanks!

[noelleno]

I have a question!
What would happen to someone trying to possess one of these soldiers?

[falsehoods]

Like spiritual possession? They probably wouldn't be able to! The illusory ones aren't there, the physical ones are actually golems created by Loki which means they're basically walking stones animated by Loki's will.

Trying to possess one would feel like trying possess a brick. Loki can't create actual life the way a Skyfather can.

[noelleno]

So no brains to house in to speak of...Sounds good to me! Thank you! Just making sure Jericho isn't getting stuck in anything.