Kintsugi Plays Fallen Hero: Retribution (ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ …(^_^)…)

I just want to state for the record that this is an incredible sentence.

 

Sounds like HRT yes, surgery no.​

> At least after I started hormones.

You started hormones after your first escape. It was an opportunity. It was a revelation. You got the money by beating up drug dealers. You know it wasn't the best way to go about it—but they had a lot of cash in unmarked bills and wouldn't complain to the LDPD. You needed the money. You needed to change.

You needed to live.

Back then, the rules still mattered. Doing good. Being a hero. But being who you are mattered more, and with a doctor not interested in asking questions and enough money to make sure they forgot about you afterward, you started to rebuild your life.

No. Not rebuild. Build. You never had one, did you? And now you could pick a new name and feel your body changing into…you.

It felt like heaven, but there was only so much hormones could do. If you wanted to do more, you needed to go under the knife.

　‣ It's not something I wanted for myself.
　‣ I never dared to, too many bad memories.
　‣ I can't show my skin; that made it impossible.
　‣ It wasn't until the second escape I dared to do that.

It sounds like current consensus is that Josie wouldn't go for surgery—if so, what was the main reason?​

Spoiler: Show Stats (no change)

CLASSIFIED

Subject: Anathema

Secret Identity: Josie Jacobs
Gender: Non-binary.
Description: A tall mixed person in their thirties with brown eyes and short and styled curly dark brown hair.

They have a short, scruffy beard and mustache.

Standard of Living: Josie is comfortable.

Josie Jacobs is a seasoned, tech-savvy tactician.

Physical Status
Stamina: You are rested.
Willpower: You feel calm.
Injuries: You are fine, with no significant wounds.

Telepathy
Strength of Mind: 50%
████████████████████
Subtle Manipulations: 74%
██████████████▒█████

Anathema
Infamy: 47% / Obscurity: 53%
█████████▒██████████

Armored Suit
Anathema's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.
In its left hand, the suit has a neutered colony of nanovores, functionally similar to having disintegration touch. The suit is also equipped with telepathic boosters and enhanced speed as well as jump-jets.

Armor Status
Need Repair: 0% / Fine: 100%
████████████████████

Psychological Profile
Arrogance: 25% / Anonymity: 75%
████████████████████
Ruthlessness: 39% / Empathy: 61%
███████▒████████████
Daring: 64% / Caution: 36%
████████████▒███████

Back in the day, Sidestep was known as a vigilante working with the Rangers.

Main Puppet
Name: Barbara
Puppet Status: She is fine, and has no serious wounds.
Description: A tall white woman in her twenties with blue eyes and long straight blond hair.

Allies and Enemies

Charge
Josie's Relationship with Ortega: Friend and ally.
Ortega's Connection with Josie: 83%
████████████████▒███
Ortega thinks Anathema has made some good points.

Barbara's Relationship with Ortega: Flirting.
Ortega's Connection with Barbara: 59%
███████████▒████████

Dr. Mortum
Barbara's Relationship with Dr. Mortum: flirting.
Mortum's Connection with Barbara: 65%
████████████████████

Lady Argent
Josie's Relationship with Lady Argent: Distant.
Lady Argent's Impression of Josie: 1%
▒███████████████████
Lady Argent thinks Anathema is a cheater.

Marshal Steel
Josie's Relationship with Steel: Former ally.
Steel's Connection with Josie: 24%
████▒███████████████

Herald
Josie's Relationship with Herald: Distant.
Herald's Connection with Josie: 20%
████████████████████
Herald thinks Anathema is a villain.

Other Characters

 

Never dared to, because... memories presumably involved with these multiple escapes (from the Farm??)

 

>Can't show my skin
hi I bought the game(s) bc I saw yall playin em and mainlined both in three days, why are they so addictive

 

Looks like we've currently got one vote for I never dared to, too many bad memories and one for I can't show my skin; that made it impossible. Anyone else have a tiebreaking vote?

welcome to the club! :D I'm glad I'm not the only one who tripped and fell hard into these games

 

Skin seems like it might get us lore.

 

(pakidge voice) lore?​

> I can't show my skin; that made it impossible.

You could never risk it. To have surgery, you needed to go on the table. Stripped down. All your secrets would be revealed then; it would ruin you. Being sedated and in someone else's hands when they could do anything to you.

Nobody gets to see what's under your clothes.

No use dreaming about it.

Just focus on your goals. That's what kept you alive even when you wanted to stop.

You need that. A goal.

Maybe it's not healthy investing so much of yourself in something, but you're still here, so you must be doing something right.

Right? Or has that changed?

Are you still out for revenge?

　‣ Yes, my original motivation still holds true.
　‣ No, I've realized the real reason why I do this.
　‣ I live for my revenge, it's my fuel and drive.
　‣ I want a life, I'm hungry for more.

We set out on this journey in the first place for revenge. Are we still working towards that? Or has actually becoming a villain caused us to reevaluate what we want? (The alternatives are the same as before: "I need to show the world the truth," "I've had enough of being stepped on," "I want a good life and this is the way I can have it," and "This just feels inevitable.")

For those confused about the difference: the first option is your standard "yes, revenge is still my motivation" answer, while the third is more like "some people?? need to make their enemies pay for what they've done?? to cope???" (Fourth option is similar to the third, but for the "I want a good life" motivation rather than the revenge motivation.)​

Spoiler: Show Stats

CLASSIFIED

Subject: Anathema

Secret Identity: Josie Jacobs
Gender: Non-binary.
Description: A tall mixed person in their thirties with brown eyes and short and styled curly dark brown hair.

They have a short, scruffy beard and mustache.

Standard of Living: Josie is comfortable.

Josie Jacobs is a seasoned, tech-savvy tactician.

Physical Status
Stamina: You are rested.
Willpower: You feel calm.
Injuries: You are fine, with no significant wounds.

Telepathy
Strength of Mind: 50%
████████████████████
Subtle Manipulations: 74%
██████████████▒█████

Anathema
Infamy: 47% / Obscurity: 53%
█████████▒██████████

Armored Suit
Anathema's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.
In its left hand, the suit has a neutered colony of nanovores, functionally similar to having disintegration touch. The suit is also equipped with telepathic boosters and enhanced speed as well as jump-jets.

Armor Status
Need Repair: 0% / Fine: 100%
████████████████████

Psychological Profile
Arrogance: 20% / Anonymity: 80% (+5)
████████████████████
Ruthlessness: 39% / Empathy: 61%
███████▒████████████
Daring: 64% / Caution: 36%
████████████▒███████

Back in the day, Sidestep was known as a vigilante working with the Rangers.

Main Puppet
Name: Barbara
Puppet Status: She is fine, and has no serious wounds.
Description: A tall white woman in her twenties with blue eyes and long straight blond hair.

Allies and Enemies

Charge
Josie's Relationship with Ortega: Friend and ally.
Ortega's Connection with Josie: 83%
████████████████▒███
Ortega thinks Anathema has made some good points.

Barbara's Relationship with Ortega: Flirting.
Ortega's Connection with Barbara: 59%
███████████▒████████

Dr. Mortum
Barbara's Relationship with Dr. Mortum: flirting.
Mortum's Connection with Barbara: 65%
████████████████████

Lady Argent
Josie's Relationship with Lady Argent: Distant.
Lady Argent's Impression of Josie: 1%
▒███████████████████
Lady Argent thinks Anathema is a cheater.

Marshal Steel
Josie's Relationship with Steel: Former ally.
Steel's Connection with Josie: 24%
████▒███████████████

Herald
Josie's Relationship with Herald: Distant.
Herald's Connection with Josie: 20%
████████████████████
Herald thinks Anathema is a villain.

Other Characters

 

>Revenge is my fuel

 

The meme description does make it especially appealing.

 

It is genuinely the most accurate description I could come up with!

 

No, we don't want revenge. We need it.​

> I live for my revenge, it's my fuel and drive.

If vengeance is a dish best served cold, yours will taste delicious. How many people are on your list right now? Organizations? Even governments? You know your ambitions might be lofty, but you also know that even the most powerful can be brought down by careful planning. And if there is one thing you're good at, it's that. You know them. You know their tactics. You know their tricks.

And you'll use every single one of them to bring them down.

Words with nothing to back them up have no power, however, so to accomplish your goals, you have become a…

　‣ A hero hunter, fighting my old allies.
　‣ A mob boss, creating my own criminal organization.
　‣ An anarchist, fighting the system.
　‣ A thief, stealing everything I can get away with.

The first game of this series, as you'll recall, was dedicated entirely to creating and establishing our new identity as a villain. There's just one question we never got around to…

What does our new villain self actually do?

This is one of the game's bigger choices. While it stops short of full plot branching, our career choice will determine the details of many of our short- and medium-term villainous plans, including which objectives, characters, and parts of the setting Anathema focuses on. Whichever option we choose will work in concert with our previously-established goals—Josie's driving motivation is still to get revenge on the people who hurt them, regardless of how they go about it—but Anathema's day-to-day work and reputation will look very different as, say, a thief than as a mob boss.

Since the in-game options aren't terribly descriptive, included below is a brief summary of each career path. These should give a rough idea of what the different careers entail and the range of approaches each one allows.

Spoiler: Hero Hunter

Do you…

• …think a good boss fight is its own reward? (stealth option who?)
• …socialize best in a PVP-enabled environment?
• …enjoy pushing your skills to the limit?
• …think heroes these days are too soft?
• …consider yourself a primarily tactile learner and teacher?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, consider a career as a hero hunter!

For most villains, fighting heroes is an occupational hazard. For you, it's a calling. Why wait around for heroes to foil your evil schemes when you can take the fight to them?

From the corporate- and even government-sponsored to the scrappy vigilantes, you're out to send a message to the heroes of Los Diablos. What that message is, exactly, depends on you. It might be "Don't mess with me." Or maybe "You're nothing." It could even be "Git gud": someone's gotta whip these heroes into fighting shape, right? People will get hurt in the process, but they knew the risks when they signed up—and frankly, some of the so-called "heroes" out there deserve worse.

Whatever your true motives for doing it, the job is simple. You'll scour Los Diablos's hero population for suitable targets: those who pose a threat; who need to be shown their place; who show the potential to be more. You'll bring the fight to them. And afterwards, check them off and move on: there's always more on the list.

Spoiler: Mob Boss

Do you…

• …aspire to more than small-scale villainy?
• …prefer to play with a full party?
• …like making new friends and new enemies?
• …think this city is a mess and you just need to rule it?
• …enjoy romanticizing organized crime?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, consider a career as a mob boss!

Some villains are content to be just another weirdo in a mask. You have greater ambitions. You're going places in the world of villainy, and to get there you're going to need power, influence… and most of all, help.

With the help of a loyal crew of employees, minions, or maybe even almost-friends, you'll stake your claim on the city of Los Diablos as an up-and-coming crime lord. If that means disrupting some existing power structures in the process, well, no big loss. This place is due for a change.

You'll have to start small as always, but this time you won't have to do it alone. Work with your crew to gather intel on your rivals, and carry out operations to expand your influence in the criminal underworld. Ensure your henchmen's loyalty through fear, friendship, and/or actual leadership skills as you grow your organization from a ragtag bunch of misfits into a full-scale criminal empire.

Spoiler: Anarchist

Do you…

• …have a message the world needs to hear?
• …understand that your real enemy is The Man?
• …believe in direct action?
• …wish protagonists would consider the broader social context?
• …want to get involved with local politics but don't know where to start?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, consider a career as an anarchist!

Some might say the heroes are your greatest enemy. You know better. The real problem isn't heroes or villains. In fact, it's not any one person: it's the system.

As an anarchist, you aim to force real change by attacking this problem at its roots—starting with the corrupt politicians of Los Diablos. Once you know who the status quo serves, you can deal with them directly by exposing their dirty dealings to the public, "convincing" them of the error of their ways, or—if necessary—more permanent measures. If all goes according to plan, you won't be doing it alone. There's no shortage of victims of the current regime: play your cards right and you'll have the public and media on your side.

Your first task will be to investigate the web of corruption behind the city government and follow the threads back to those who hold them. Use your powers and connections to identify leads, sources of leverage, and obstacles to be eliminated. Deal with the latter by whatever means necessary. Find out how deep the rot goes and rip it out by the roots.

Spoiler: Thief

Do you…

• …love nothing more than a good heist?
• …prefer to work alone?
• …dream of designing your own calling cards?
• …think local CEOs and millionaires could use taking down a notch?
• …have strong opinions about art?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, consider a career as a thief!

There's nothing cooler than a true master thief, and few people are better suited to the job than you. What better use for your skillset than to gain access to the city's highest-security sanctums? Liberate fine art and jewels from the wealthy or trade secrets from your corporate overlords, leaving only a calling card to claim credit—or simply vanish into the night, leaving no sign at all that you were ever there.

Maybe you're in it for the money, or for the sheer satisfaction of a successful heist. Maybe it stems from a genuine interest in the priceless artworks hoarded by rich collectors or prototypes developed in secret for Big Tech. Or maybe it's just a means to an end, a convenient source of funding and intel as you lay the groundwork for your real plans.

Whatever the job means to you, you know the drill by now. 1. Find thing. 2. Plan to steal thing. 3. One way or another, get yourself in and your prize out without being caught. The "how" is up to you.

Vote for your favorite 1–3 option(s)! (And if you have further questions about what any of the options entail, let me know; I'm happy to answer.)​

Spoiler: Show Stats (no change)

CLASSIFIED

Subject: Anathema

Secret Identity: Josie Jacobs
Gender: Non-binary.
Description: A tall mixed person in their thirties with brown eyes and short and styled curly dark brown hair.

They have a short, scruffy beard and mustache.

Standard of Living: Josie is comfortable.

Josie Jacobs is a seasoned, tech-savvy tactician.

Physical Status
Stamina: You are rested.
Willpower: You feel calm.
Injuries: You are fine, with no significant wounds.

Telepathy
Strength of Mind: 50%
████████████████████
Subtle Manipulations: 74%
██████████████▒█████

Anathema
Infamy: 47% / Obscurity: 53%
█████████▒██████████

Armored Suit
Anathema's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.
In its left hand, the suit has a neutered colony of nanovores, functionally similar to having disintegration touch. The suit is also equipped with telepathic boosters and enhanced speed as well as jump-jets.

Armor Status
Need Repair: 0% / Fine: 100%
████████████████████

Psychological Profile
Arrogance: 20% / Anonymity: 80%
████████████████████
Ruthlessness: 39% / Empathy: 61%
███████▒████████████
Daring: 64% / Caution: 36%
████████████▒███████

Back in the day, Sidestep was known as a vigilante working with the Rangers.

Main Puppet
Name: Barbara
Puppet Status: She is fine, and has no serious wounds.
Description: A tall white woman in her twenties with blue eyes and long straight blond hair.

Allies and Enemies

Charge
Josie's Relationship with Ortega: Friend and ally.
Ortega's Connection with Josie: 83%
████████████████▒███
Ortega thinks Anathema has made some good points.

Barbara's Relationship with Ortega: Flirting.
Ortega's Connection with Barbara: 59%
███████████▒████████

Dr. Mortum
Barbara's Relationship with Dr. Mortum: flirting.
Mortum's Connection with Barbara: 65%
████████████████████

Lady Argent
Josie's Relationship with Lady Argent: Distant.
Lady Argent's Impression of Josie: 1%
▒███████████████████
Lady Argent thinks Anathema is a cheater.

Marshal Steel
Josie's Relationship with Steel: Former ally.
Steel's Connection with Josie: 24%
████▒███████████████

Herald
Josie's Relationship with Herald: Distant.
Herald's Connection with Josie: 20%
████████████████████
Herald thinks Anathema is a villain.

Other Characters

 

I'm kinda feeling mob boss - partly because I want to keep Rosie around and maybe pick up some other weirdos. Or maybe thief? We do have a stealth-and-speed build.

 

1. Anarchy or 2. Mob Boss would be my votes for

Spoiler: no really it's plot spoilers

1. REVANGE on the Farm/SD or 2. potentially a more even playing field with Hollow Ground when he finally shows up, for good or ill? total shot in the dark on that one tho

Thief at least could be easy with our build, but I'm not sure how it would really mesh with our Revenge motive, so that's a very distant third place to me.

 

If you're curious, I can expand on that part a little! In the context of our revenge motivation, the logic behind becoming a thief would be one or both of a) gathering the funds we'll need for our plans b) staying as far under the radar as possible until we're ready to act. We might also have other reasons, of course (personal preference is always a possible factor, and depending on our relationship to the whole "revenge" thing we might feel the stealing itself serves that purpose on a smaller scale—striking back against those in power and/or the law itself), but those are the main ways it relates to our overarching motivation.

By comparison, becoming a mob boss means moving directly and openly to amass as much power and influence as possible. The job itself is about as far from the thief option as possible, although you could argue that it actually achieves similar goals—organized crime yields both money and valuable connections, and while it's the opposite of low-profile, it doesn't hint at any agenda beyond greed and ambition. It all just depends on our relationship to our revenge goals, and what if anything we want out of life beyond that. (Someone who wants to build themselves up into their enemies' worst nightmare might not be satisfied as a simple thief; someone who just wants to exact some revenge and be done with it might not feel like running a whole criminal syndicate.)

Becoming an anarchist, of course, means jumping straight to the "fuck shit up" stage of the plan. Maybe taking down the establishment is itself the revenge we want; maybe we feel it's necessary to first destroy the power structures that make our enemies untouchable, or that our revenge would be hollow if the system that enabled them in the first place remained intact. This would also be a way of gaining power, but of a different kind—political and public/media influence—and in the service of our anarchist agenda.

As for hero hunter, our exact angle would depend on how we approached it—are the heroes just our enemies' flunkies, or could they be potential allies?—but I think the relevance to our revenge motive is pretty evident either way.

Obviously these aren't the only factors worth considering, but if you were wondering how some of these careers mesh with "revenge", now you know.

 

Do we get to keep Rosie around in the thief route? Or, does mob boss have interesting distinguished NPCs or are they mostly interchangeable mooks?

 

As it happens, Rosie already has a permanent position working for Anathema! So if we pick thief/anarchist/hunter, she'll still be our go-to henchwoman whenever we need one. (And Barbie's almost-friend, of course.) If we go the mob boss route, she'll be part of a core crew of henchmen who are more centrally involved in our work. The crew's other four members have their own backgrounds and skillsets; I'd say they have about as much personality as Rosie, but much less individual screentime so far. I like them, though naturally YMMV. (Presumably we'll also pick up some interchangeable mooks to fill out our ranks, but those are less relevant.)

 

Hmmmm. Highest to lowest votes:

I feel like Anarchist makes sense long term, given some of Josie's previous motivations. It doesn't inherently have funding methods, but both the hints of escaped backstory and the current system are definitely on Josie's hitlist .

Thief or mob boss as ways to fund and facilitate taking on the system down the line, and offering various ways of taking out obstacles now, would also work. Mob boss would have the appeal of getting more minions to socialize with sometimes, thief would presumably have the adrenaline excitement of heists - the museum mission was a bit along those lines.

Hero Hunter, least so. The motivation could be there, given we're running more on revenge for revenge sake, and maybe finding there by gambling on how fights will go... But while Anathema was enthusiastic about winning a given fight, they were quick to want to get out of it. And the more we fight heroes, the more chances they have to counter strategize - and to recognize.

 

Going by the votes thus far, I think the current standings are:

1. Mob boss is the most universally popular option;
   
2. Anarchist has the next most support;
   
3. Thief comes in a close third; and
   
4. Hero hunter is of no interest to anyone.

Feel free to discuss further/chime in/change or clarify your vote if I got it wrong. All other things being equal, I figure I'll leave this open through tomorrow then go with whatever's in the lead, but if people aren't done deciding by that point that's fine.

 

It's decided, then! Let's organize some crime.​

> A mob boss, creating my own criminal organization.

You decided early on that you could not do this alone; you needed help. You knew you didn't have enough knowledge of the criminal underworld to navigate it safely, but this was something that could be remedied. All you needed to do was build an organization with people to compensate for your failings. It's just a small crew for now, but you know this is the seed of a criminal organization. Your criminal organization.

They thought they could scrape you off the sole of their boot like a piece of gum, but you'll show them. Every single one of them. Once you're powerful enough, they'll pay.

It feels nice to have a loyal core of henchmen that you can rely on. That you can trust to know that they are better off working for you than against you.

It's hard to lie to a telepath.

　‣ They don't know my base, nor my identity.
　‣ They have access to my base but don't know who's beneath the helmet.
　‣ They know my face and base; we work as a team.

These are our most trusted subordinates, but what does "trusted" mean to us? Does Anathema's secret base serve as our team's base of operations, or is it too big a risk for anyone to know about it? And if we share it, does the helmet stay on around our crew?​

Spoiler: Show Stats

CLASSIFIED

Subject: Anathema

Secret Identity: Josie Jacobs
Gender: Non-binary.
Description: A tall mixed person in their thirties with brown eyes and short and styled curly dark brown hair.

They have a short, scruffy beard and mustache.

Standard of Living: Josie is comfortable.

Josie Jacobs is a seasoned, tech-savvy tactician.

Physical Status
Stamina: You are rested.
Willpower: You feel calm.
Injuries: You are fine, with no significant wounds.

Telepathy
Strength of Mind: 50%
████████████████████
Subtle Manipulations: 74%
██████████████▒█████

Anathema
Anathema runs a criminal syndicate.

Infamy: 47% / Obscurity: 53%
█████████▒██████████

Armored Suit
Anathema's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.
In its left hand, the suit has a neutered colony of nanovores, functionally similar to having disintegration touch. The suit is also equipped with telepathic boosters and enhanced speed as well as jump-jets.

Armor Status
Need Repair: 0% / Fine: 100%
████████████████████

Leadership: 28%
█████▒██████████████

Psychological Profile
Arrogance: 20% / Anonymity: 80%
████████████████████
Ruthlessness: 39% / Empathy: 61%
███████▒████████████
Daring: 64% / Caution: 36%
████████████▒███████

Back in the day, Sidestep was known as a vigilante working with the Rangers.

Main Puppet
Name: Barbara
Puppet Status: She is fine, and has no serious wounds.
Description: A tall white woman in her twenties with blue eyes and long straight blond hair.

Allies and Enemies

Charge
Josie's Relationship with Ortega: Friend and ally.
Ortega's Connection with Josie: 83%
████████████████▒███
Ortega thinks Anathema has made some good points.

Barbara's Relationship with Ortega: Flirting.
Ortega's Connection with Barbara: 59%
███████████▒████████

Dr. Mortum
Barbara's Relationship with Dr. Mortum: flirting.
Mortum's Connection with Barbara: 65%
████████████████████

Lady Argent
Josie's Relationship with Lady Argent: Distant.
Lady Argent's Impression of Josie: 1%
▒███████████████████
Lady Argent thinks Anathema is a cheater.

Marshal Steel
Josie's Relationship with Steel: Former ally.
Steel's Connection with Josie: 24%
████▒███████████████

Herald
Josie's Relationship with Herald: Distant.
Herald's Connection with Josie: 20%
████████████████████
Herald thinks Anathema is a villain.

Other Characters

 

All Secrets All The Time. They can talk with Barbie like everyone else.