Fantastic police; "Put the raygun down and step away from the giant!"

@Loni and USAF - If you are referring to my post (if not, ignore followings), I haven't read any of them. :/

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

No, I'm still referring to the OP, you failed attempt at a thread-jacker.

I am now known as Flyboy.

Top Ten and Gotham Central come to mind. Those were diverting.

It's beautiful and so full of deep imagery that it doesn't surprise me to find that it has gone WAY over your head

@USAF - Curses, foiled again!

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

@Krak: It's hard to judge what you don't know, after all. Detail us up in the hizzouse!

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

Okay, so here it goes.

Chronos City, home of immigrant watchmakers, has a special police division comprised entirely of superheroes, the Watch. The Watch's main function is to handle the many metahuman and supernatural crimes and incidents that pop up from time to time. At least, that's what it says in the papers.

In actuality, the Watch fights a shadow war with the Syndicate, the oldest and most powerful criminal organization in the world, and the Watch is losing. Every time they bust a new superhuman laboratory, the Syndicate buys another senator to cut government funds and or cause a new multimedia scandal.

The Watch is getting desperate. Their tactics are becoming more and more desperate. Lines are getting crossed. The Syndicate itself is tiring of the sport. Things will come to a head, and sparks will fly when they finally clash in the open.

Our protagonists are the loose cannon senior cop Thermite - a former scientist turned cyborg gang-buster who has a personal vendetta with a Syndicate lieutenant - and the by-the-book rookie Ana Arcana, a magical girl who has defeated her enemies and is looking for a new cause, as well as something else.

The story's major themes are the subversion of systems, corruption, the measures that the desperate take, and clinging to old ideas of how things were.

---

For the record, yes, I've read Top Ten and City Watch.

edited 22nd Dec '11 9:25:43 PM by Kraken

Hmm. You seem to have put a lot of thought to this. I'm eager to see your first excerpt.

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

I was expecting something more police-y from the original description. More like a "true crime" show in a fantasy setting. But this is more of a fantasy mafia story with protagonists who happen to be police; am I reading that correctly?

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

I love fantasy mafia.

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

Freezair: That is quite accurate, yes.

I suppose a more accurate summation would be "a superhero version of The Shield", but as yet I have not watched The Shield.

The Watch certainly is police. They have uniforms, procedures, codes of conduct, and fight crime as well as keep the peace with municipal authority. It's just that they are cops who fly and wear "spandex" and fight other crooks who also fly and wear "spandex".

edited 23rd Dec '11 4:40:25 AM by Kraken

Hmmm. Admittedly, I was more intrigued by the true crime (or possibly CSI) idea than a mafia idea. But that's not your fault, so don't let my disinterest deter you.

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

Well I suppose I could make a crime investigation on the forefront and have all the mafia stuff be various subplots.

Before this thread is consigned to oblivion, does anyone have anything else to add?

I'd like to reiterate my commentary on the relative use-of-force rules and their impact in superpower worlds. It's something most settings tend to skirt around or simply try very hard not to think about.

But in the absence of a way to render a superman safe to arresting officers, bystanders, the people who'll jail them, the judge and the jury, killing him rather than arresting him becomes much more acceptable. Someone who can shoot heat rays out of their eyes is never going to be completely restrained. Someone with super-strength can probably be handled.

Nous restons ici.

They could be sedated, theoretically, but their powers might go off impulsively.

Which probably wouldn't be good for their eyelids...

"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."

Yeah, but how are you going to safely sedate him on the street without risking getting blasted? The safety of the arresting officer counts too.

Nous restons ici.

Sniper with tranq rounds, if you're feeling adventurous.

Otherwise, presumably magic.

"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."

Force-field, disorientation, unique metal blind-folds...

Of course, that's just off the top of my head.

edited 2nd Jan '12 1:45:43 AM by Kraken

^^Or a crossbow with Tranq. bolts.

Granted, if there are going to be ray guns, a sniper rifle/musket probably wouldn't be too outlandish.

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

So what? You tie up a super for the trial too? And for the term of incarceration? Disorientation solves nothing. He can still kill quite effectively, if he hits. Metal blinders may not be practical depending on the method.

And there is no foolproof method of knocking someone out in the open at a distance. A bad shot with a tranq only provokes him. Even a good one and he'll have time to get off a shot or two. (Why do you suppose we don't try to tranq people in the real world?) Gas would be more effective by far but at the dosages necessary to act fast could be lethal to some and it's too uncontrollable for urban use.

It's really a big problem. Superpowers destroy the concept of equality under the law as some people are demonstrably not equal. Not handwaving it is done far too little.

Nous restons ici.

You know those planes of infinite energy so oft portrayed in fantasy like Dungeons and Dragons?

Two small portals to those planes over the irises. And you'll keep it there, every so often replacing them as one sees fit.

A lack of magical ontological inertia bothers me.

I do sort of dislike the assumption that Night is making here, but the point is not an invalid one: Deadly or (at the least) extreme force does become much more acceptable when dealing with superhumans, I would think. That said, the nature of such a world would also dictate that there could easily be supernatural methods of non-lethal restraint available to the law-enforcement side of the equation. (For some reason, I'm now thinking about The Fair Folk's traditional aversion to iron and similar metals.)

edited 3rd Jan '12 7:59:03 AM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.