I like Freedom Force, Chris

At no extra charge, I will scour the net for an super-villain that would suit you to a T.

Pontius and I are both Star Trek Deep Space Nine fans! If you haven't seen the show it won't make sense, but DS9 was a Federation space station located close to a wormhole - on the other side of the wormhole were several opposed races, ruled by a shapeshifting race who used servants (Vorta) and soldiers (Gem Hadar) to further their ends (this is an oversimplification).

Slitherin - I checked out the site, and apart from appreciating the stuff, thought The Wandjina Culture would be a cool name. The problem: a little too offbeat, not easily recognisable by others...on balance not quite what we had in mind?

Also running through X-men type names -
The Inner Sphere/Circle
The Dragon Ascendancy (I like dragons)
The _____ League etc.

Freedom Force is good for me, though - keep the thoughts coming!

I would be pleased to be classed as one! Great suggestion!

I have an idea. Instead of changing your name, why not actually play more.

Naaaa stupid. Forget I even suggested it.

Freedon Force is fine for me also.

Although like Space Wombat I like Dragons. Speaking of which, Space Wombat have you read "Flight of Dragons" - Peter Dickinson, it argues dragons existed and then proceeds to explain the possible scientific background behind various dragon myths & legends. Some images are at http://members.tripod.com/~gruaglothor/fbkimg.htm

In DS 9,
The shapeshifters were called the founders in the dominion. They were worshipped as Gods. The Vorta were cloned diplomats and were the top servants in the hierarchy. You'd better listen to a vorta, because if you don't that's when they call in the Gem Hadar, and then you regret not listening to a vorta. The gem hadar were genetically engineered fighters, lived hard, grew from baby to adult in about a week, and rarely lived beyond age 9 and were kept under control by their dependance on a chemical called Ketracil white. So if they got rowdy, no white, and they'd quickly go into withdrawl shakes and stuff.

Boy did I like that female vorta they had. wooohooo. Lots better than Xena, Almost as good lookin as Misty Hyman.

Hurley - I haven't come across that stuff, but thanks for the link. My introduction to the mythology has mainly been through SF/fantasy - the swords and sorcery stuff, but I would love to think these creatures actually existed.



Pontius - this discussion is taking place while, I would think, all of us ANZACs are at work - don't have GalCiv installed on my work PC! Just wait until the Freedom Force is unleashed upon the Metaverse!

Boy do I miss ds9, It was the best of the trek's.

Soon as we get Genetic Engineering down pat, I'm gonna make me one. Like the one in shrek. Install seats and everything.

I'd agree, actually - I liked the story arc unfolding across the seasons; discovering the founders, the Dominion War, evacuating and reclaiming DS9 - very involving stuff. Unlike the more episodic Treks: go somewhere, get into trouble, reconfigure the deflectors, get out of trouble, save the day. The only other TV series to do that for me was Babylon 5 - the writer designed it FROM SCRATCH to have a five year run and wrote five seasons of intricate plots that unfolded to a supurb conclusion.

Hey - call me! I'm up for test pilot status

Can I give you all something else to think about? When we do this - do we just change the ANZAC name, and keep ALL the old names? Or do we make a NEW empire, and transfer individually across to it? That would leave behind old ANZAC names who wern't privy to this discussion.

It is tempting to me to go the second path - create a brand new empire, and transfer across the people who really want to do this - thus creating a small but committed band. I don't want to do the dirty on others though - what do people think?

I loved Babylon 5 too. Now due to budget, the plot had to be rewritten year 5, then it got cancelled so they had to redo in haste the last few episodes. Then the spin off was a disaster. But for 4 years+ up to the departure of the vorlons/shadow, b5 was a well scripted, well acted show.

LMAO you must have seen the new one too much. Polarize the hull.... Polarize the hulll.....


And there always seems to be one thing ubiquitous in each series. With the first one it was always Dang Transporter malfunctioned again.
Witht he second one it was always... Dang Holodeck, malfunctioned again.
Even on voyager that holodeck was a source of pesky trouble.
Ds 9 (years 2-end) and b5 just had alot better plot unity in the background of their stories.
With the new prequal it was always polarize the hull....I lost interest after about 5 or 6 episodes. Then we gave up our cable so we don't get it any more.

Hehe...yes, it became a ridiculously repetitive plot device in the end. You just KNEW that Geordie/Torres was going to come up with some reconfigure this, adapt that...and poof! we can beat these baddies Capt'n, and save the day! And how many times did they end up using some kind of time travel event?!

BTW, did you see any of the B5 telemovies that came out after the series (I found 4 or 5 at the local video store) - they weren't bad either....
[Message Edited]

No I didn't. Were these the stillborn spinoff show's? There were about 5 of em.

That is, if they are the stillborn spinoff show's, I've seen em. If they are indeed something different, I have not.

I'll check for titles and let you know, although it seems like we're talking about the same thing...I'll get back to you...

Pontius: That issue was clearly discussed in 'Plan 129' on page 23.



In swimwear, or without?



At the minute, I'm thinking 'Nemesis of Ray'.



Hehe.
And yes, it will be sad to see the ANZACs never reach number one (except for when Cataleptic posted that 100000 (?) game which they promptly deleted). Still, if no-one reads the notices, they can't be too interested in the empire thingie.

I'm happy to go with any name as long as it doesn't conjure up images of stupid wrestlers!

Interlude

The audit was not going well.

“And these records?” said the bespectacled auditor.
“Um, ah, well…” KitWarrior turned to EBZM with a pleading look. EBZM looked at the Captain. The Captain deflected the look to the Spymaster.

The Spymaster blushed: “Ha. Ha. Actually, that raid wasn’t one of our best. A few hundred kegs were unfortunately smashed in our post-Victory frenzy and…”. The Spymaster’s unlikely explanation ground to a halt under the auditor’s gorgonish gaze.

“I see”, said the auditor, although his body language said otherwise, strongly.

EBZM eyed the auditor bleakly. ‘He can see straight through our feeble explanations’ thought EBZM.

KitWarrior had dark thoughts as he stared around the room: ‘This is all we need! The Waltzing Matilda is in port as we waste time here: I can sense Dropbear nearby as if he was in this room, watching. Yet what a perceptive auditor!’.

The Spymaster was perplexed: ‘Arr. I think I’ve conned him good’, he thought. ‘He’s fallen for it hook line and sinker. Wish I could read his body language’.

The Captain was thinking: ‘Damn. I’m gonna be late for the poetry reading. Again’.

The gathering paused and looked with interest as a slight, youngish man (although perilously close to middle age), with a long, many-coloured robe and a calculus, went by. The man stooped to measure the room with his tape measure, and left, heading towards the Bridge of the Ship of Doom.
“Don’t mind him” chuckled Pontius, absently. “He’s just arrived from Singapore. An interior designer or some such”. The gathering laughed, unwisely.

The auditor watched the strange man leave the room and looked at the pirates. The pang of sympathy he felt for the pirates was a strange emotion: yet one he easily dismissed. “Ahem. Now about your raid on 13 June…”

Many hours later Mrs Pilot came looking for Pontius, rolled newspaper clutched in her strong, fierce hand.

OK team - it's time to make the call. I reckon we go with:

Empire: Freedom Force
Theme: Superheroes - up to the players inventiveness, all comers welcome, anything you can think up

Need a communication thread - suggestion: Freedom Force Factfile
Need an announcement of changeover to the board.

Need to create the empire and individuals to migrate over to join.

Individuals to change nicks (or not) to suit themselves.

Give me some kind of straw vote or indication on this.

FYI:

While I don't have the PC game "Freedom Force" that kicked this whole thing off, you may not be aware that the name also refers to a group of Marvel comic-book super-villians.

Back in my comic collecting days in the late '80s (sniff!), the then-current iteration of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was subcontracted by the American government as an enforcement group to "convince" other mutant types to register with the American government. Mystique - now played in the movies by a blue-skinned Rebecca Romjin-Stamos - was the ringleader.

Thus, the name "Freedom Force" was, in their case, unintentionally ironic.

I thought this might prove informative, although it comes at a great personal cost by reaffirming my status as a complete geek, nerd, (add appropriate noun here).
Strike one: Plays PC games.
Strike two: Star Wars fan.
Strike three: Comic collector.
As we say in the States, I'm outta here!

Just a thought...

I'm in.

Don't know why ya didn't think of Freedom Force before this! Let's face it: what is Earth famous for having produced? That's right: superheroes and mutants.

And we all love irony.

Some of you might not need to change your nicks. Just write introduction and background into your current names and join.

Space Wombat would be quite easy. Drop Bear: not as easy, but shouldn't be too hard.

AWww And I liked the Wrestler theme. I was looking forward to The Empire of the rock with slogan IF YOU SMELLL L L L WHAT'S COOKIN. hehe. Oh well.


Long Live the Freedom Farce!!!!!!!! er force!!!!!!