A Tale of Heroes (WIP) - 224k words. Updated 29/01/2025!

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Hmm, I guess this is kind of the problem with trying to keep it for until a bit later in the story, but quick heads-up: the League members do have a rather large salary. I think Mars can mention this to Nova sometime in Chapter 4. You make something around 300-370k dollars a year. Problem is that as a provisional member, the League’s financial department (read: Ignis) keeps it “in trust” until you finally join properly.

With everything that you’ve done by now, you’re definitely a proper member, but with everything that’s happened, Ignis has been a little distracted and not able to finish all the paperwork and what have you. Around Chapter 6 or so Ignis will give the player their money, alongside a debit card and all that’s needed to be self sufficient, don’t worry about that.

If anything, Mars is actually going to be the one at a disadvantage here. While it’s certainly true that Stratton supplements Mars’ pay, he’s still lagging behind around 100k-200k in comparison.

No, no, don’t worry about that. I try to keep the cast’s orientation vague enough to be “player-sexual” at the very least, so don’t worry about that. The only one with a particular caveat is Ignis, who is at least canonically bisexual, for reasons relating to her past, and something I have planned for the future.

Yes, that’s the plan! They’re actually part of the reason for why Mars is so hesitant to leave Stratton’s side (nothing political about it, don’t worry!).

You’ll actually get to meet the parents of a fair chunk of the cast, now that I think about it. Nova’s father is definitely making an appearance, you’re absolutely meeting Ignis’ parents, Aki’s dad may make an appearance, as well as Lat’s mom eventually.

The only two who are definitely not having a meeting with their parents are Forlorn and Seeker. The former because his parents are dead, and the latter because, well, they’re also dead, but he never met them in the first place, so…

That’s actually something I want to get into eventually, and I’m kind of hoping I’ll get a chance to delve into soon.

Unlike our real world counterparts, the Liberation and Revolution parties aren’t quite so diametrically opposed, at least not on social issues. Stratton’s an idiot, but we’re not going to be seeing any transphobia or general LGBTQ+ hate, or any blatant disregard of racial issues (well, except for that blatantly racist attack on Nova in Chapter 2, but even then that’s mostly a Stratton thing).

Then again, Gloria is still a rather clean break from a lot of the positions held by his party, to the point he may perhaps be better served with the Revolutionaries instead.

Which only begs the question, why did he join up with Stratton then…?

Yeah, that’s coming, don’t worry about it. Although, if you’re on the Mars path, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Latooni will only confess to an MC who isn’t romantically involved with anyone, or an MC who is involved with Ignis. She’s smart enough to not get in the way of a relationship where there actually seems to be mutual interest, so she’ll probably shrug and accept it wasn’t meant to be.

Well, unless you pursue her in Book 2, where things might be a bit different, but I’m still workshoping that…

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Like I said, back in his college days Stratton alone was already plenty reason for my mc to lean towards the Revo’s that hasn’t exactly changed. What has changed is that he has become a mostly single issue voter around superpowers and it seems like there is, again, only one decent choice on offer there as my mc really does not want to be forced into the military as their payscale for privates is not exactly great and being forced into some shadowy “intelligence” agency would be even worse.

Well maybe, maybe not, mc doesn’t exactly come from a wealthy background. I don’t know if it is explicitly stated in the non-orphan backgrounds but the mc actually seems to be on a relatively rare full-ride scholarship for the indigent. :thinking:

But it is certainly enough for my mc to go on a date with Mars, even if Mars prefers fancy. Also enough to be able buy some of the clothes he always wanted but could never afford, aka for mine leather jackets/pants and a silk shirt or two and some fancier accessories…maybe finally get his ears pierced too. :grin:

I chose the estranged family option at the beginning, so my mc would definitely not be looking forward to introducing Mars to his family. In my headcanon my mc’s parents are trailer park petty thieves and con-artists and probably not all that liberal or gay friendly to boot.

Is only a bit excessive for the circles she moves in now. The sort of outfit my mc would want would, at retail prices, cost around $400 to $600 for the pants, $300 to $1000 for the shoes/boots, $500-1500 for the jacket, $100-200 for the shirt and another $2500 for a combination of various accessories, rings, earrings, belt, bracelet/wristband and watch.
So that would make for between $3800 to $5600. Of course that is fancy gear for sexy dates, my mc would most often wear sportswear/tracksuits now, considering his occupation, but combined with reasonably fancy sneakers that would still be around $700-800 an outfit. And that is for very high quality but by lesser known or up and coming brands and tailors. Go with the big names and you can reach Ignis’ numbers easily. Still my mc mostly cares about quality not brand name.
Buying more accessories is however a once a year or so event and leather jackets can last a very long time. :thinking:

So @Jjcb would that make my mc the worst after Ignis in the league in the near future then? :wink:

But fancy sportswear is still comfortable and practical, as well as sleek and styles now that my mc has the body for it.

Well…my mc really didn’t either, now that he can afford it though. Plus he might already have had some stylish things, but those would have been gained by very carefully perusing second hand shops, garage sales and maybe the occasional mega-discount or goods with minor damage sale, which like Seeker he’d have fixed up himself.:thinking: Of course all of those would have been lost or destroyed in the earthquake during the prologue. :cry:
While I can say from personal experience it is possible to look stylish on a budget but it requires investing in it in time what you do not or cannot put in in terms of money and of course no fancy jewellery as that mostly has too high of a material value to get for really cheap.

Taking advantage of a roommate who can cook and sew probably figured somewhere in there too, eh? She says as much if the mc reveals they can cook during the league dinner anyway. :grinning:
Though his knowledge of women’s fashion is still very low due to lack of interest.

Which means Ignis was probably responsible for giving mc jeans as workout wear for heavy duty training. As for that purpose jeans are neither comfortable nor practical. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

What about Seeker is not complicated I wonder. :sweat_smile:

I guess one advantage of the kind of upbringing I headcanon for my boy is that he always had his own strong mindset that was already fairly used to not really living any sort of stable life. I guess my mc may have that in common with Forlorn…which is probably why they often clash too.

Hmm…they also don’t bother with the press or publicity much, except for Ignis. So as the only one besides Ignis to do so voluntarily I guess that also makes him the second most approachable to the general public, at least until Mars possibly joins. Guess he has something of his con-artist parents in him after all. Which is funny because in Giga college Lat definitely used to be the more social one of the two, but that can probably be chalked up to my mc never really liking the college type of social scene very much. :thinking:

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More than fair, I’d think. I will say, the League would get some better treatment than being thrown at the bottom of the pile if they got absorbed into the military, but it’s not exactly the best deal one could get.

Not to worry, I have plans on what comes next, and they’re… unexpected, to say the least.

I tried to be a bit vague about it, but the MC definitely has at least some support for their university status, yes. Whether it’s a full or half scholarship is up to personal headcanon, I think, but the MC remains an exemplar of whatever skill/club he was in back in highschool.

Understandable, though I wouldn’t worry too much about it yet. I don’t have any plans to make the Mc’s too important yet (besides, perhaps, some lines or a letter or the like later on), due to the level of variation even in each choice. I’d like it to be possible for everyone to envision the family the way they want to.

Oh, and because I forgot to address this in the earlier post, but-

This has already happened, more or less. Nothing legal, of course, but the Coltello vault closed its doors for Ignis the very… like, week her joining up with an asshole (Forlorn) and a vagabond (Seeker) was made public.

She did buy some property before it though, so she’s still living in a lot more comfort than we do, and it’s why she can afford to throw her League paychecks into charities (as well as why her sense of money remains screwed up, “ten grand for clothes”…), but the billions of the Coltello aren’t hers to use until something happens to her parents.

Or, uh, until she takes their advice and actually starts acting like a proper heiress, but, well, that’s not happening.

Edit:

Well… :stuck_out_tongue:

I’d say so, yeah. The rest of the League doesn’t bother too much with clothes, at least beyond “comfortable” or “practical”.

Forlorn isn’t that interested in local fashions, for example. Most of his money actually goes towards buying land in the Midwest. Aki does like pretty clothing, but normally Ignis is the one that accompanies her there, so her knowledge of fashion is essentially “I like this one, Ignis”. Nova is frugal, as you’d expect. Clothes were a lot cheaper back where he used to live, and even then he didn’t exactly get access to the classy brands, so he doesn’t exactly go crazy over it.

Meanwhile, Lat is still not entirely free of the college student mindset, despite her new life situation. While it’s true that she does come from some money-- her mom is a doctor, as I’ve mentioned, and her dad is… a video-game designer…-- she still tried to be rather self sufficient while she was at Giga College, so she definitely learned to take advantage of sales and when and how to use coupons.

And Seeker is… a bit complicated. He’s not a stranger to high fashion, Ignis has dragged him on enough shopping trips to spruce him up that he’s been forced to learn, but he’s as likely to wear something from some exclusive brand as he’s likely to make or fix up his own outfit. That small crown on all his jackets, for example, is something he stitches on them all himself.

Well… work smarter, not harder. :wink:

Hmmm, in a way, though it’s not exactly the same. Forlorn did get along quite well with his parents, and he respected and loved them very much. They were both truly strong people who honestly tried their hardest.

It just wasn’t enough, and that’s about all the consideration Forlorn gives the matter these days. He can’t afford to think on the matter any more, not with Aki thrown into the mix.

Ah, I do have plans for Mars to be something of a media darling eventually, yeah. He hasn’t had much chance yet, Stratton tends to take all the attention for himself, but he’s a good conversationalist, and he knows when to put on the charm.

A fair point! Not gonna lie, I’m a bit worried that Seeker may end up coming off as too much of a mystery, but then that kind of runs into the issue that once you figure out his main thing, almost everything else will just make immediate sense, or you’ll be able to figure it out if you give it a few seconds of thought.

He’s a complicated character to explain, right up until he isn’t, and then it becomes crystal clear that he’s a poorly raised gun by someone not much older than him, who’s desperately trying to keep the pieces of a shattered life together…

Until a certain someone comes along, and starts inserting her own shards in the mix.

Seeker’s a weird character to me, because honestly, he’s getting a good ending with Book 1, but his life up until that point was very much not, and I want that to be something the player can, if not sympathize with, at least begrudgingly accept.

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Man… :broken_heart:
I was so into Ignis… now my target for R.o. is Aki :smiling_imp:

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Pffft, you don’t deserve Aki. Aki’s worth being someone’s FIRST choice.

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I’m sorry the story wasn’t to your liking, but thank you for giving it a try regardless. c: Ignis is one of my favorite characters to write, so I’m glad that she at least made an impression.

This is true! As Forlorn will tell you, Aki wants a lot of things, and most of them he can’t give to her, no matter how much he may want to, or how much it hurts to have to say no.

But letting her feel loved? That’s the one thing he can try and give her.

… And, honestly, she’s gonna need someone who makes her feel that way with what’s coming :stuck_out_tongue:.

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Here’s what I think of each of the characters so far

Aki: Adorable & would love to be friends with or date

Nova: Admire & would love to be friends with

Lat: Good friend that I want to see be successful in her goals

Ignis: Haven’t spent enough time around her to really get to know her

Forlorn: Want to punch him in face (again)

Seeker: Want to tell her off for disregarding MC’s feelings
Also I like the flow of the story but it still feels like anyone playing the reluctant hero path is still just thrown into the fray without anyone stopping to asking them if they’re okay or how they feel about being told to just start training & be a hero against their will

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Love the artwork. It’s amazing & on point for the characters

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the characters! That’s something I’m always grateful to hear about, it’s very important to me to see how the cast is being received. I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts on them (I actually added this to the OP in the “types of feedback” that I’d like to receive).

And yes, noted on the reluctant hero path. For as much of your friend as Latooni is, she doesn’t seem that interested in how you feel about things, does she? :stuck_out_tongue: I’m working on adding a choice when talking to her (and a couple other characters, like Nova and Shin on Seeker’s route) that allow the player to express reluctance in how everything’s shaking out.

I also have been considering adding a small scene where the player gets to choose to stay at the hotel in Chapter 4 if their reluctance stat is too high, not being interested in hanging out with everyone else, which would allow some extra chatting with Gloria before he throws you out regardless, but that might end up messing with the… atmosphere of the chapter, so to say, so I’m not very sure of it yet.

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You can always write an alternative “loner” adventure scene, where the MC goes to do some self-reflection and where they do some figuring out on their own. Sort of the anti-social version of the social scenes.

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Hmmm, that’s a very good idea! There was actually a location in Naha (Shuri Castle) that I wanted to have the player see, but couldn’t figure out where to put it.

I could even have Other!MC make something of an appearance, maybe, have them wax poetic of some sort at one another…

Yeah, I can already envision how it’d be going, the creative juices are flowing. I’ll go with something like this.

Thanks for the suggestion, Eiwynn!

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My mc does start out reluctant, I mean how could he not since he’s basically forced into it by an ultimatum by a rather unfortunate series of events in which he was, for the most part, the victim.
And then he gets the choice between risking his life on television or risking it in jail or some government black site. Unlike Lat he didn’t exactly join voluntarily, nor was being in the league ever a particular dream come true for him, like it seems to be for Lat.
So while at the beginning the League is the least bad option, it does not seem like a good option by any means…as compared to what his options were before the prologue anyway, which would have been to finish college and not risk his life on what basically amounts to reality tv.

Insensitivity is her greatest character flaw, I assume. Well that and being too hyperactive, energetic and talkative at times. Which is why I previously didn’t mention Lat as being good for dealing with the press as Ignis, my own mc, and in some future Mars would be.
While she means well and mostly seems to have a great desire to socialise Lat is an acquired taste who won’t go over well with everyone. My mc probably needed a month or two to learn how to live with Lat as a roommate and another two months on top of that to become friends.

Personally, the social scene my mc would rather skip, in spite of loving clothes, would be the shopping trip with Ignis in chapter 2…by chapter 4 in contrast he is starting to warm up somewhat, plus there is Mars to hang out with in chapter 4.

My mc’s thoughts on the cast:

Lat: An acquired taste, but one he has already acquired, so a good friend. He just wishes that sometimes she’d take more time to consider the thoughts and feelings of others before butting into things.

Aki: Seems nice enough but a little timid and with how hectic it has been he hasn’t really gotten the time to get to know her or see what’s inside her shell. In many ways the opposite of Lat in personality.

Ignis: Means well, but can be too overbearing. Doesn’t really like her at the start, does warm up to her a fair amount in chapter 3 and 4.

Seek: Seeker is definitely intriguing and mysterious and a demanding trainer. Doesn’t really know Seeker though, but then it seems Seeker doesn’t let anybody except Ignis come close. Overall a good colleague to have, considering the business they’re in.

Forlorn: Forlorn’s is rather difficult to get along with, so he mostly avoids Forlorn, which means he doesn’t really know Forlorn all that well…even less than Seek, honestly.

Nova, like Aki he seems rather nice, also rather cute. He’s always so busy with his gadgets though that my mc hasn’t really gotten to know him yet. Would like to be friends though and Nova’s support during the ultimatum is well-remembered by my mc.

Mars: :heart_eyes: Mars is just about the sexiest guy he’s ever met and nice to talk to too, unlike his boss. Even better it seems Mars may be into him as well though at this point he’s a bit concerned/uncertain if it is his new superhero persona or himself Mars is really into, since dating Mars feels like dating a big step upwards for my mc. Hopes the creepy alter ego inside his head and their powers don’t spoil what could potentially be the best thing in his life. :persevere:

Stratton: :drop_of_blood: :crazy_face: :dagger: …don’t let Mars find out though.

Gloria: If something seems too perfect it usually turns out to be so. Which means my mc is rather suspicious of our good VP at this juncture.

Of course he doesn’t know that and supposing that blue flash of light was when an alien being invaded his body and assumed the shape of a creepy alter-ego and that is indeed where his newfangled and inconveniently late manifesting powers come from, meaning that they are in actuality not his powers at all…the fear would remain, does Mars fancy the real boy or the superhero image? :worried: Aka would Mars still want to be with him as a significant other if he were to revert to his unpowered, bog-standard, normal self in the epilogue?

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That it is, that it is! It’s not intended though, it’s just that her brain works at a mile a minute, while her tact… doesn’t.

She’ll learn, though. Not to worry.

That’s fair, though then we run into the issue that sending you out is what allows the player to face off against the pyrokineticist. I’ve been thinking of adding a small choice there that lets you choose a particular clothing style, and having some of its flavor depend on your reluctance stat.

That she is. If you hang out with them from the start in Chapter 4, it’s actually mentioned that while Lat keeps jumping from subject to subject, Aki always tries to give some thought to whatever her answer or comment is. She’s thoughtful like that.

Oh, you don’t know the half of it. This is hinted a bit throughout Chapter 4 if you hang out with Forlorn, Nova and Shin (through Seeker, but still), but they all have a sentence or two mentioning that Ignis helped Seeker change for the better quite a bit. That’ll be explored a bit more as the plot marches on.

It’s not quite the “nice woman fixes bad man” trope though, never fear. I’m not a fan of that kind of take for relationships. These two have their issues, and they only allow each other to see them. Their relationship is built on helping each other deal with them. As equals, more than anything.

Funny thing, a draft of the Ignis scene in Chapter 4 before the eventual rewrite actually had her mention she once roasted Seeker so badly that she still feels ashamed about it. You’d be able to ask Seeker about it, and his response essentially boiled down to:

“Obviously, she was right. She still is. But she’s the only one that ever bothered to tell me in a way that I could listen. So… I’m trying.”

I still have that scene saved somewhere in my PC. It’ll get a bit of a change to fit the new context, but it’ll still make an appearance.

Aha, well, I have plans for that to eventually come to the forefront and cause its well-earned measure of drama, but it’ll be more of a general issue than something that messes with relationships, so your MC doesn’t have much to worry about in that regard.

In others, though…

Edit: Whoops, sorry, I got distracted with some stuff and didn’t get a notif of the extra quote, but:

A fair fear to have. I can’t quite promise anything one way or the other in some aspects (though that’s quite a good theory in regards to the powers), but I can confirm that you and Mars will have a chat, eventually, regarding his insecurities, and what he’s looking for with the MC.

Of course, the setting of that discussion might not be… the best choice, but trust me, a certain someone is going to pick a worse one.

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I’m doing a replay all the way from the start, so I took the opportunity to… TYPO HUUUUNNNTTTT!!!

Should be “be located and quartered”.

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Wrongly capitalised pronoun:

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Another error: Stratton opened his mouth and nobody kicked him in the teeth.

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Very thankful to have these listed (though my bookmark list is growing increasingly larger with every bit of feedback…)! I imagine this must be some sort of sign that I shouldn’t have writing sessions post 10 PM, but that’s when the good ideas hit…

Also, did you guys know that Coltello is the italian word for ‘knife’? A friend of mine told me earlier today how the death merchants being named ‘knife’ was the worst pun ever, but I swear to God I had no idea it was an actual word. I thought it just sounded like a cool term. :skull:

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Im sorry if this has been answered before, but is this United states of america Different then then our irl one other then there being heroes? and also, does there happen to be a discord for this?

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It is basically the same country as exists here in the real world, but also–‘Superheroes’ and ‘alternate world history’. These are the qualities that make the story not technically about the real USA, but a fantastic parody instead.

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Is this an extra option and will the normal route still be there or does it replace it? Cause I really like the ‘domming’ route with Lat lol.

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The two parties are also different, we’re told, with the not-Republicans not being quite so right-wing. Stratton is said to be a particularly vile representative, with 1/3 of his own party hating his guts. “How did he make it to president, then?”, you ask? Because they’re still the Republican expys, and therefore they’d vote for a literal plague rat* if it had an (R) next to its name.

*apologies to plague rats, who don’t deserve the comparison

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Yep, the Liberation Party, in contrast to the real life Repubs we all know and hate have seemed to have maintained a moderate “progressive conservative” wing of some sort, plus apparently a reliable block of voters to sustain it. Likely they made more and earlier inroads among immigrants who tend to be a somewhat reliably conservative to moderate group in most of Europe too. They may also be slightly less terrible with the youth vote and have a core base beyond the “very fine” young people of Trump. Certainly less hostile stances on gay rights and abortion would help to keep the more affluent youth and those who fancy themselves upwardly mobile “yuppies” largely in their corner on class interests, if nothing else.

The Stratton-esque wing however does seem to be largely reminiscent of Trump’s except that unlike him Stratton has an actual “moderate” progcon wing of some strength to contend with, which means that he and his supporters don’t own the Liberation party the same way Trump now owns the Republicans.
The fact that he had to take on someone like Gloria, instead of a loyal yesman like Pence for Trump, as his running mate can probably be taken as proof that Stratton had to appease this wing of the Liberation Party to get the nomination in the first place. The more perplexing thing is why somebody like Gloria, who essentially seems to be the picture perfect candidate, except for being very young, has chosen to tie himself to a trainwreck like Stratton. Since it seems that in another 8-10 years he could have easily been elected on his own and probably in a Gloriamania reminiscent of Obama’s in our time all on his own.

Fun and probably intentional fact, the acronym for the Liberation party would be the Lib’s so it’s trolling the Revo’s instead of the Lib’s for Stratton and his most vocal supporters on alternate Bleeter.

Still, since my mc was not particularly wealthy or thinking of himself as particularly upwardly mobile before the bodysnatching/super powers/creepy alter ego, earthquake incident, I think he always leaned towards the Revo’s.

Well that would seem to be an (L) for Lib in this universe. May also be a riff on the extremely Libertarian crypto crowd. So maybe it’s Stratton’s crypto boys in this universe, eh?

Instead my own mc would more likely be one of the ones who’d instinctively vote for the candidate with an (R) next to their name, unless he was actually paying close attention to the elections.

Would probably be amusing if the (D) party was a perennial third party in this universe, like a cross between the green and libertarian parties in our universe.

You mean that wasn’t intentional…?..I thought naming what is apparently one of the most prominent crime families in your superhero setting like that was just one of the over the top things common to superhero fiction. :astonished:

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