Deus Ex/Assassin's Creed Crossover: Crazy or Crazy Awesome?

Hello fellow tropers, long time fan, first time writing.

As the title implies, I've got this crazy idea in my head to write a Deus Ex/Assassin's Creed crossover.

The universes seem to "mesh" well enough; (IIRC) Nothing in either 'verse seems to conflict the other, and both contain Conspiracy Kitchen Sinks. And let's face it, free-running assassins/street samurai in a Cyberpunk Dystopia would be pretty cool.

Basic premise: (non-canon) descendants of the assassins fight alongside other assassins to combat conspiracies, circa 2060.

Potential Themes/Elements/conflicts:

• Explore the pasts of canon characters with the Animus
  • Pro: Said canon characters don't run the risk of going "out of character"; It's the non-canon character reliving their events is deviating from their ancestor's path.
  • An animus within an animus: Recollection.
    • And on the Inception theme, possibly shared genetic memories.
    • Also has some potential to touch on various Cyberpunk themes/tropes especially when combined with implanted genetic memories idea below; What is Reality?, Fake Memories, Journey to the Center of the Mind, etc.
  • The animus getting hacked by an AI.
• Recreate the tension between JC Denton and the Mechs
  • Animus trained assassins vs. Street trained assassins
  • Actual descendants of Assassins vs. Those with the genetic memories "implanted" with a virus

This would be my first time attempting a fanfic, and a crossover at that. I've already read through most of the necessary So You Want Tos *

, but I'm looking for other forms of advice, and a few people to bounce ideas off of.

For starters, here are a few questions:

• If the initial group of assassin's descendants was secretly evil/training the main character to be their new super weapon, would it tick off the Assassin's Creed fans too much, or be too obvious to the Deus Ex fans?

• The So You Want To Write A Cyber Punk Story page cautioned against a Tomato in the Mirror Surprise; Would it be too obvious/lame to have one of the main characters turn out to be an inhabitant of one of the [otherwise unused] People Jars near the end of Deus Ex?

• The So You Want To Write A Conspiracy Theory page suggested starting with a somewhat normal main character, so that the reader could relate before being plunged into a world of paranoia. Is this still in effect since members of both fandoms are expecting conspiracy, and would starting out with someone who was already an assassin as the main character count?

• Any tips on how to keep both fandoms happy?

Also, if anyone knew of any good research materials/timelines/resources regarding either source, it would be greatly appreciated. *

edited 28th Jun '11 10:30:26 PM by deleet

Oh fuck yes. This idea sounds like it has awesome potential. And I do agree, the two universes do have quite a lot in common.

yey

How about nanotech that performs the function of the Animus without requiring a huge load of equipment? Essentially a portable Animus. Possibly used for increased efficiency with weaponising the Bleeding Effect.

I imagine there'd be side-effects. Perhaps areas of overlap between memory and the real world. A lot of interesting possibilities.

yey

Extended use gradually destroys the mind's ability to seperate reality from genetic memory. Cue Subject 16-ification.

Unprompted relapses into animus memories which actually have real-life affects. Run from some guards up a tower, you come to at the top of a sky scraper.

yey

You see a guy taking out guards in a way that would make Batman proud, walk over to him, and find out that he's effectively been tripping on Animus the whole time, and thinks he's in Acre fighting the Templars. Hilarity ensues.

Although a portable Animus would be really cool to see, I doubt it would really work out...

• Someone who knew what they were doing in the DX/AC verse would know better than to put such valuable technology in a place where their rivals could get their hands on it.
• It technically couldn't be nanotech, since nanites are generally incompatible with humans; JC and his bro were the exceptions.
• The Assassins[/anyone else with said tech] would probably try to guard against losing agents completely to the Bleeding Effect.
• I'm not quite sure yet, but I'm probably doing to approach this as a bit of a Cyberpunk Conspiracy Thriller, and I'm mentally having a hard time fitting it into the narrative. (Maybe as the Call to Adventure, or a side plot?)

That aside, it'd make sense if the Animus was smaller by 2060. I could also see it as a mechanical augmentation, with some kind of (small) external activator, too.

Hmmm... throughout the day, I came up with a few more loose ideas.

The Templars would be shut down after whatever it is that Desmond and company pull by the end of the series, and the Illuminati would step into their place while forcing the Templars to act as their bankers. As they did this, they would take any technology/information the organization had. MJ-12 started out as a subgroup of the Illuminati, and thus would have access to most of the Illuminati's resources. Thus, it would be entirely possible for some of the MJ-12 members to have trained on a variation of the Animus.

Notably, Gunther Hermann shows no signs of paranoia as a member of the Tyrants in the prequel novel, Deus Ex: Icarus Effect. When we see him as an MJ-12/UNATCO member in Deus Ex, he's outright paranoid. Hmmm....

edited 29th Jun '11 7:44:13 PM by deleet