ASH/HCC: CSV #29 - 'Star Gazing

[Dave Van Domelen]

     [The cover is a split image, with TerraStar herself standing in the
middle and attired differently on the two sides.  On the left, she's in a
well-tailored semiformal outfit in some sort of media studio.  On the right,
she's armored and in a room full of crackling energy and technology.  On both
sides, her clear blue eyes glow faintly.]

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   ( )                 CONCLAVE OF SUPER-VILLAINS               ( )
    I          An Academy of Super-Heroes Universe Comic         I
    I             copyright 2011 by Dave Van Domelen             I
                          #29 - 'Star Gazing
                       High Concept Challenge #20  

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[November 15, 2026 - TNN Studios, Malta]

     "Welcome back to TNN In Depth, and thank you for choosing us as your
news source today, tonight, or whatever time it happens to be wherever you
are on Earth or among the stars.  If you're viewing this in the archives or
via interstellar delay, it's November 15, 2026 by standard Earth reckoning,
and we're coming to you from the brand new TNN studios on the island of
Malta.  I'm Chet Carlson, to my right is Abigail Simmons, and for this seg
we'll be talking to a visitor who comes from all the way outside our reality
and has until recently been a resident of the colonies of Venus...in a way.
Recently released from custody of dubious legality in the North American
Combine, welcome to TerraStar of the Conclave of Super-Villains!"
     The camera pulled back to show an imposing woman seated in the partially
virtual studio bext to Chet and Abigail.  Well over two meters tall and with
musculature that would win any bodybuilding competition in the world had
supernormals not been excluded from such events.  She wore a pencil skirt and
a loose blouse that was, if not cutting edge fashion of the day, certainly
within the bounds of what a media advisor would suggest.  The blouse was
well-tailored to drape flatteringly from her physique, concealing and yet
oddly emphasizing a bosom that seemed vaguely out of place on her otherwise
lean body.  Of course, she had to have tailored clothing, nothing "off the
rack" would have fit in the first place.  Her long strawberry blonde hair was
bound up in braids that, while not tight, looked like they would hold quite
well should she be called upon to leap into action at a moment's notice.
Like most paranormals, she had a faintly inhuman perfection to her features
and required no makeup to look good on screen.  In short, the woman had
dressed to use her looks for maximum effect, with even elements like the
blouse that appeared modest at first acting to tease and tantalize...or to
threaten.  Beautiful and deadly.
     "TerraStar...or should I call you Polla?" Abigail smiled.  She, on the
other hand, wore a great deal of makeup, although the end effect was to
appear as if she wore none and simply had perfect skin as well.  Much of her
beauty was unnatural as well, but the product of science rather than magic.
And next to TerraStar, she seemed utterly plain.
     TerraStar shrugged, a motion that caused a significant portion of the
viewing audience to catch their breath.  "Naming is a rather complicated
matter where I come from.  In an informal setting, it would be acceptable to
call me Polla, but as friendly as you clearly are, this is the sort of event
where I would not merit the honor.  There can only be one Polla, and as of
the last time I was home, that was not I.  I am fairly young to only have
three parts to my full name, but it's understandable if 'Polla Hectrix
Termiddo' is too much of a mouthful for you to keep saying.  TerraStar will
do, however.  If anything, recent experiences suggest I deserve the humbling
of a lengthened name."  Humility, if that's what this was, clearly came
unreadily to TerraStar.
     "That's interesting," Chet mused, putting on his most professional
"thoughtful" face.  He'd recently allowed a trace of gray to creep into his
hair, to help bolster his Serious Newsman facade, but if anything he wore
even more makeup than Abigail.  "Here, the higher your rank, often the longer
your name.  Titles and honors and the like.  Princess Ursula, for instance,
has the full name of Ursula Grace Caroline Maxine Stephanie de Grimaldi, and
that's not even counting the titles appended to it."  A prompter driven by an
intelligent system had, of course, supplied the full name as soon as Chet
mentioned her, but he was smugly proud of the fact he'd memorized it years
ago.  "It must make grade school interesting...does it take the entire first
grade for kids to learn their own names?"
     TerraStar laughed politely.  "For the most part, children have a single
first-name but officially append the full names of both of their parents.
When we reach the age of majority, we shed the parental names and are
assigned whatever full names we have earned by that point.  Exceptional
children sometimes enter adulthood with only a half dozen names, although
it's traditional that one's initial adult-name is not longer than their
child-name, no matter how unexceptional the child.  Obviously, given that my
father has no name and my mother only one, I had to start out a bit longer
than that.  Termiddo, in fact, is taken from one of the names my mother
earned the right to abandon, and refers to the colony world of her birth.
Hectrix, on the other hand, is an entirely new name to my reality, and was
given me to honor a man my father knew on this world.  As there are no others
with the name of Polla Hectrix, it would simply require approval by the
appropriate agency to shed my third name, but it's considered crass to
shorten one's name merely because there's no competition."
     "You mentioned another Polla," Abigail said, following the prompter.
"Would you have to fight her to the death if you wanted to become the only
one known simply as Polla?"
     "Name succession is rarely to the death, even when both claimants are
warriors," Polla said, with a tone that implied she was vaguely insulted by
the insinuation she came from a barbarian culture.  "It's either a refereed
struggle on points, or to the submission.  But my situation is a bit more
complex, as the current Polla is a scholar, and the challenged always has
choice of contest.  I believe your own world's dueling tradition is similar
in that respect.  I would be forced to compete in her arena, as it were, and
while I have always done well enough in my studies, I will need to be much
better than I am now in order to stand a chance.  My gene-sibs all have
first-names taken from a non-warrior, in fact.  The Emperor said once that it
was to encourage us to explore broader interests rather than simply focus on
combat."
     "And if you're not smart enough to beat Polla at her own game, will you
have to wait for her to die of old age?" Chet asked.
     "Not necessarily," TerraStar replied.  "While it is traditional to
reduce to one's first-name, there is precedent for retaining a second-name or
even third-name as one's only-name.  As there is no other Hectrix, for
instance, I could simply become known by that as my only-name.  As an heir of
the Emperor, though, I would need a very good reason for breaking tradition,
however, such as a believable claim that I respect Polla too much to wish
upon her a loss of standing.  And to BE believable, I'd have to show myself
capable of winning against her, which I cannot yet do."
     "If you do become the one and only Polla, what happens to the previous
one?" Abigail had a glint in her eye that suggested a faint bloodthirst,
hoping the answer was that the defeated would have to die, despite earlier
claims to the contrary.
     "She could reclaim her old second-name.  Sometimes, when the disputants
are friends or share a certain mutual respect, the defeated takes on the
second-name from the winner, which would make the scholarly Polla into the
new Polla Hectrix and would keep Hector's memory alive.  There are also a
number of 'emeritus' second-names that are only used by those who were
formerly single-named.  Normally these are used by those who don't feel they
can face a challenge from any three-names on their way up, and wish to retire
from the status game.  But it's also a tacit promise to never challenge to
one-name status again."
     "Sounds terribly complicated," Chet gave his best, "poor me, I'm
overwhelmed" look.
     "Oh, it's not so bad if you grow up with the system," TerraStar assured
him.  "And unless you're an aggressive social climber, odds are your name
will remain stable for most of your life.  My father was rather exceptional,
rising from an adult-name of above-average length to being the nameless
Emperor."
     "Well, if you're going to succeed him as Empress, you're going to have
to get on the job of earning your way out of a couple of names, yes?" Chet
shifted to the meat of the interview.  "But given your recent sworn oath to
the Combine authorities that you're out of the world-conquering business, how
are you going to manage that?  Rumor has it that you even have a wager on
with the Chancellor of Khadam regarding who will control a larger portion of
the world by 2034.  Have you already lost that bet?"

               *              *              *              *

[Year 5662 of the Empire - The Imperial City]

     Even someone without her extensive Gifts would have been able to tell
the room was the locus of immense power.  Ten massive antimatter generators,
each capable of meeting the needs of a city, had their output diverted to
this one spot for the next few minutes, building energy in order to batter
through the walls around the universe.  The procedure was handled by
computers and by technicians who were in a distant control room, and by both
Imperial decree and by dint of sophisticated anti-eavesdropping technology,
none but the two in the room would know what was said or done while both
stood there.
     "Polla Hectrix Termiddo," the Emperor said.  He was a man with no fear
for his personal safety, despite the horrendous energies seething almost
within arm's reach.  He had been through such a portal once before and
lived.  And should anyone seeking to harm him be able to get past the many
layers of security that surrounded not only his person but also this
installation in its own right, he was still one of the finest warriors in
all creation.  And he was her father.
     "Emperor," she bowed her head.  Her father had no name.  He had become
Emperor before her birth, shedding the last of his names.  What need had the
Emperor for a name during his life?  It wasn't as if he could be confused
with anyone else.  Upon his death, he would once more be Arn, and there would
never be another with that as an only-name.
     "You are one of ten potential heirs to the throne," the Emperor
proclaimed.  "And while you are one of the three to be my genetic offspring,
that does not in itself give you any advantage over your foster siblings, any
more than the two gene-heirs of the previous Emperor that I adopted are at a
disadvantage.  But I am human, and I cannot completely restrain myself from
playing favorites.  You may, of course, wish that you weren't my favorite
after a time, because my faith in you means that I am going to set before you
the harshest of tasks.  You may fail...I failed in this task, after all.  But
should you succeed, it will be more than enough to prove yourself worthy of
the throne."
     Polla nodded.  There was no other reason to come to this place, after
all.  It served a single purpose: to act as a gateway to other realities.
The technology was too energy-hungry, required too much in the way of static
installations, to be effective as a means of invasion as the previous Emperor
had hoped.  Ships could not be sent through it, nor enough troops...even if
Gifted...to conquer anyplace worth the expense.  Better to continue expanding
within their own reality.  But research continued, and the installation
remained in good upkeep.  One day it might be an effective tool of Imperial
expansion, but for now it was mainly an expensive indulgence.
     And a test.
     "I spent several years on Earth, finding allies and even building an
army, even if I was forced to return here with none of those things.  I was
not even able to bring back everything I had left with, as my AstroSpear
remains behind," the Emperor sounded wistful.  She knew he had true friends
on that world, and friends were something that an Emperor found to be rarer
and more valuable than any weapon or treasure.  "Of course, I was really sent
away in the hopes that it would be the end of me, and when I did return I was
able to use what I had learned in my exile to ascend to my current position,
even without the abandoned army or lost weapon.  I send you now in hopes that
you will succeed, you will come back with more than simply the armor on your
body.  Probes assure me that the disaster that I left ahead of has passed and
the world remains, albeit weakened, so you will have time to plan and build
your power base.  I leave the details to you, of course...this is your test.
I give you only two instructions.  One, impress me.  If necessary, by
bringing to bear enough power to overthrow me should I have chosen one of
your siblings in your absence.  Two, bring back the AstroSpear.  Using it to
return the way I did would be too easy, I insist you return with it or not at
all."
     "I will make you proud," Polla nodded, with a slight touch of menace to
the word "make."
     "Ha!  Good, you still have that spirit I recognized in you as a little
girl.  Make me proud, or make me regret it," the Emperor laughed.  He opened
a dull metal case and withdrew a mace made of what Polla's practiced eye
could tell was a super-dense "collapsed" metal.  "This is the GeoMace.  The
weaponers designed it to complement your talent with earth magics.  It will
not absorb the power of the portal like the AstroSpear did, but it's not
meant to be as potent a weapon as that.  Merely something to use until you
claim the AstroSpear for your own.  And, I suppose, a useful symbol, should
Earth still practice 'superhero' games as they did when I was there.  Perhaps
you will never need to use the AstroSpear at all, if you can make Earth fear
and respect the GeoMace.  Now, my daughter, the portal is ready, and you must
go...."

               *              *              *              *

[November 15, 2026 - TNN Studios, Malta]

     TerraStar chuckled.  "Well, I won't confirm or deny that any such wager
took place, but I will say that if I did enter into any such agreement with
Chancellor Radner, that both of us can be expected to be...creative...in
interpreting the terms.  But, rumors like that aside, I think I may have been
too quick to assume that my father wanted me to conquer Earth.  I was always
a rather straightforward child, and conquest did seem like the most obvious
way to succeed where he had failed, proving that I deserved to become Emperor
after him.  But living here taught him many things, and it has taught me as
well.  Especially spending many months sharing a body with a mountain-sized
demigod!" she laughed.  
     "Heraclius is quite intelligent, and has a darling childish quality to
him that I suppose is inevitable when nothing can really hurt you," the
laughter had retreated into a faint smile.  "Spending time with him caused me
to look at my own life in a different way...in several different ways, in
fact...and I came to the conclusion that I had been on the verge of failing
the true test my father set before me.  An Emperor does not follow orders,
she gives them.  She sets policy, decides what to do.  Conquering this world
because I thought my father wanted me to?  That's the act of a good general,
certainly.  But not necessarily the path of a future Emperor.  Perhaps, in
the end, I will decide conquest is the only way, in which case I will have to
figure out how to do so without violating my oath...but being an Emperor also
means finding ways to reconcile honor and what you Earthers to charmingly
call 'realpolitik.'"
     "Heavy, heady stuff," Chet nodded.  "And we also have an equally
charming saying that diplomacy is the act of saying, 'nice doggie' while we
look for a bigger stick.  Sticks don't come a lot bigger than the
AstroSpear."
     Abigail looked a little worried, sensing that her co-anchor was straying
dangerously close to areas that could mean their jobs, if not their lives,
and turned on the bubbly personality for which she'd been hired.  "So,
TerraStar, it can't all be duty and honor, right?  We know you were only with
the Conclave of Super-Villains for a short time before the incident in Monaco
separated you from your body, but was there any romance in your life?  And if
not, anyone you would have liked to get to know better if things had turned
out differently?"

               *              *              *              *

[December 20, 2024 - Khadam]

     "So," Conflicto leered as he leaned into the common room where TerraStar
was reading through some articles on recent history.  "Daggers and armor for
wedding gifts, eh?  They go in for rough trade where you're from?"
     Polla suppressed a sigh.  Eugene was an oversexed nuisance who'd been
trying to get his hands on her since the day she showed up to apply for CSV
membership.  "They're symbols with an ancient past.  You Earthers aren't all
bondage aficionadoes just because wedding rings might be derived from
coffles," she retorted.  Actually, she'd done enough research to be fairly
certain that this was what Earthers called an "urban legend," and rings were
really just symbols of property, as rings were an early way of forming
precious metals into a portable form.
     "The fun ones are," he waggled his eyebrows.
     "Eugene Albert Kwan," she frowned, using the longest name she'd been
able to find for him.  It was insulting how short some names were, especially
for low-class buffoons like Conflicto.  "If I were into 'rough trade' as you
put it, you wouldn't survive foreplay.  You wouldn't even think it was a good
way to die."  For emphasis, she wadded a steel stylus up into a ball with one
hand.  "Actual sex would reduce you to a smear on the bedclothes long before
I'd gotten any satisfaction."  That was not true, actually.  She'd had
extensive training during adolescence in sexual methods, including
controlling her inhuman strength even during the most heated times.  It would
do her no good to become Emperor if she couldn't take a mate without killing
him, after all.  Tradition demanded that imperial gene-heirs be conceived the
"old fashioned" way.  But Conflicto didn't need to know that.
     "Um, okay," Conflicto visibly paled, and she could see him restraining a
reflex to cover his genitals with both hands.  "See ya!" he beat a hasty
retreat. 
     If she'd known that would dissuade him so easily, she would have
threatened to sex him to death weeks ago.
     Polla wished sexual politics weren't always so damnably complex,
regardless of world.  She definitely wanted to take someone to bed, if only
for physical release, but she hadn't yet decided who would make an
appropriate partner.  Triton certainly intrigued her, and would be
advantageous on several levels, but two things stopped her.  One, his wife
was positively insane whenever she thought another woman was getting too
close to him, and Polla didn't want to have to kill her.  Yet.  Two, Radner
was far too much like the Emperor.  He would know she was trying to seduce
him as part of a power game, and even if he thought it worth risking the
wrath of his wife (who he did seem to genuinely love), he'd make it far too
complicated for Polla to enjoy on the simple carnal level.  Kaliban had the
right combination of durability and romantic spirit, if you could overlook
his hideous features, but his status as a created entity might well mean that
even a casual fling with him could taint Polla socially.
     She sighed and dismissed the historical research, returning to the
"woman's magazine" she'd been reading.  A great deal of foolish twaddle in
it, but it was such twaddle that humans always built their sexual politics.
And if she ever wanted to lie with a man on this world, she'd need to figure
out those politics, lest it hurt her chances in the greater game....

               *              *              *              *

[November 15, 2026 - TNN Studios, Malta]

     "Oh, no, I wasn't active long enough for anything to happen in that
department.  Well, Conflicto made a few passes, but you know him," she winked
condescendingly.  "Although I do hear he grew up some while I was away."
     "I don't suppose you at least had a crush on Triton?" Abigail asked,
slightly starry-eyed.
     "Ha!" TerraStar tossed her head back briefly.  "No, no...he reminds me
too much of my father.  It would feel...wrong.  Even if he wasn't already a
happily engaged man by the time I met him."
     "I don't suppose there's anyone named Elektra in your world?" Chet
arched an eyebrow.
     TerraStar snorted.  "No, but I catch your meaning.  I *have* been
studying your cultures, after all.  All the best conquerors do, and even if
I'm not on that path anymore, I've still walked it."
     "Since you've brought us back to more weighty matters," Chet let his
voice drop into "let's be serious" mode, "when you betrayed Triton at his
wedding reception, was that something you'd been planning since before
joining the CSV, or merely an opportunity presenting itself?  The Chancellor
himself was rather magnanimous in insisting you be left a spot on the team in
the aftermath of that, but your talk of honor would seem to be contradicted
by your attack on the Chancellor and your attempt to destroy Monaco...."

               *              *              *              *

[February 14, 2025 - Monaco]

     The AstroSpear felt so RIGHT in Polla's hands, alive with power and
potential.  In a few moments, that power would be discharged into the earth
and with one blow two threats would be eliminated and another greatly
weakened.  If things played out the way she, Cockatrice and Irrlicht had
planned, she might even be able to return the AstroSpear to Radner and let
him think that his pet mage's pathetic oath-binding spell had ever been
binding on her.  Ha!  As if anyone raised in the court of the Emperor hadn't
already been trained in such magics since learning to walk.  Glyph was an
amateur, stumbling around attempting to rediscover magic that was obsolete
back when the Empire had been only a single world.
     Still, it would be so hard to relinquish this weapon.  She could now
feel why her father wanted it returned, and she wasn't sure she could give it
up even into HIS hands, much less Radner's.
     The AstroSpear pressed into the earth, pulsing with power.  Polla could
feel the ley lines wrapping around her, distorting the very energies of the
world.  And at her command, they would rip Monaco apart.  The Archangeli heir
would die, eliminating a long-term threat and buttressing her influence over
Cockatrice and Irrlicht.  Princess Ursula would die, removing one of the
people who could teach Radner what he needed to know in order to become a
more effective rival.  And, as a side benefit, loss of his children might
well shatter Radner's determination.  It certainly removed one set of heirs
to the AstroSpear, and if he died on Venus then the wager she had made with
him would become moot.
     Words of power ripped from Polla's lips, ones she had learned as a girl
mixed with those she had obtained through hard studies in this new world.
She had only held the AstroSpear briefly, but she knew its command codes
better than anyone on this world, and her fingers flew over the sequences
that would unleash its full might.
     Then she felt something begin to go wrong.  The flow of energy was being
redirected, inward rather than outward.  Functions she had not activated were
coming online.
     Radner, curse his cleverness, was doing something.  A few seconds
earlier, and she would have been able to counter it trivially.  A few seconds
later and it would no longer have mattered.  It was exactly the wrong time
for him to be doing whatever it was.
     As reality turned inside out and devoured Polla, she realized that she
might not have completely evaded the karmic backlash of Glyph's "pathetic"
oath-binding spell....

               *              *              *              *

[November 15, 2026 - TNN Studios, Malta]

     "Betrayal isn't really the right word, Chet," TerraStar shrugged again,
the loose fabric of her blouse hinting at the rippling muscles underneath.
     "Why not?  You tried to kill his children," Chet countered.  Abigail
looked like she'd rather not be on the same continent as Chet just then.
     "No, that was simply an unfortunate side effect of my main goal,
although I'm afraid I can't tell you the details.  Far too sensitive a
matter.  But betrayal requires trust and implies dishonesty.  Long before
Monaco I made it plain to Radner that I intended to rule the world, which
would include ruling him...or eliminating him.  He knew my goals, and yet
welcomed me to stay.  Derek Radner wishes to be a great man, and he knows
that means he needs great challenges against which to pit himself.  Just as
my father wanted me to have a great challenge, and sent me here.  Now, I will
admit that the specifics of the Monaco incident were not on my mind when I
joined the Conclave of Super-Villains.  I saw a chance to advance my goals,
however, and I pursued it.  And Radner won that round quite handily.  One
might even argue that all told he came out of it better off than if I had
done nothing...although the Impossible Five's leveraging of my entrapment
certainly had later unpleasant consequences for him."
     "Yes, being trapped for months, then finding yourself sharing a body
with a giant stone beetle...I suppose karma caught up with you even if
strictly speaking you didn't betray the Chancellor," Chet nodded, appearing
satisfied.  "Fortune favors the bold, but Chancellor Radner was just a little
bit bolder that day, I guess."

               *              *              *              *

     Polla left the studio, pleased with the results.  She'd managed to never
actually lie, without revealing any dangerous truths, so should anyone with a
Gift of truth-finding analyze the results it would get them nothing.  As for
the rest of the interview, it had been what Earthers called "fluff."  Utterly
inconsequential.  The Combine authorities would find nothing in the interview
to give them cause to accuse her of violating her agreement with them.
     Chet was apparently one of the people drawn into Radner's cult of
personality and saw Polla as an enemy, but she'd mollified him.  Not too hard
to do, really.  Radner himself, of course, still saw her as a deadly rival,
if no longer the most dangerous now that the Impossible Five were around.
When they'd met briefly the other day for her to collect her substantial
share of the profits from the Collapsiron meteorite she'd recovered as her
initiation task, he'd reminded her there was now just over eight years left
on their bet...but his tone was almost joking.
     That suited her very well.  Radner would never *trust* her, but he
wasn't the sort to trust easily anyway.  If he would underestimate her, that
would be more than good enough.  Most importantly, he needed to think that
her word was her bond, at least on some level.  She needed him to think that
Glyph's oath-bind was still in full effect, even though she'd managed to
neutralize its remaining traces while entrapped in that spacetime oubliette.
And she needed the world to think she had abandoned conquest.
     Oh, she had told the truth in the interview, as far as that went.  She
now expected she'd need to do something rather more clever than simply
conquer the world in order to pass her father's test.  But conquering the
world might still be useful as a means to her eventual end, even if it was no
longer an end in itself.  She'd learned much from her father's example.
     Do not close off any options.
     Always be willing to abandon a course of action if it seems doomed.
     Fortune may favor the bold, but never be fortune's pawn.
     But the most important lesson her father had taught her, by his life if
not his words: empires are not given, they are earned.  The truest way to
pass her father's test was to realize that it was a trap as well.  She had no
inheritance awaiting her, only if she returned with the power to take the
throne would she have it.
     And she didn't doubt for a moment that if she had to slay her own father
in the process, then his last words would be, "You passed."

=============================================================================

Next Issue:

     Well, this wasn't even planned to be an issue of CSV at first, and there
are currently no plans for a new CSV arc, so we don't actually know what next
issue will be.  Or when.  Hopefully the next issue will come out sooner than
2015, though....

=============================================================================

Author's Notes:
     
     This was originally going to be ASH #114, but once I finished outlining
it I realized that it would fit a lot better as an issue of CSV, especially
considering that all of the callbacks are to scenes in previous issues of
CSV.  :)  It was also originally going to be titled "A 'Star is Torn" and
focus more on Polla's decision to abandon direct conquest, but once I was
done I realized that she wasn't all that torn about things after all.  Hey,
it's not like we have to stick with advance solicitations lest our books be
returnable for refund!  And this gives us the first CSV issue since 2007,
which is a plus.  
     I'd actually planned this in rough form before the topic of High Concept
Challenge #20 was announced, but it didn't take too much alteration to make
it more suitable for the HCC.  Mind you, "get inside the head of a character"
(the challenge's mandate) isn't all that different from what I usually do, so
I decided that I needed to focus entirely on one character to be in the
spirit of the challenge.

     The first flashback scene takes place prior to Polla's arrival in the
ASH Universe, but the other two are tied to various issues of CSV.  The
second flashback takes place after the Congolese training session shown in
CSV #23 and CSV Annual #1.  The third flashback is Polla's side of the climax
of CSV #25, and refers back to events seen in CSV Annual #1.  The initiation
mentioned in the final scene took place in ASH #35.
     
     My original outline ended on the final interview segment, but as I got
to the end of that scene I realized it was kind of a weak ending, especially
since Polla was shading the truth in the interview segments.  It needed one
last look behind blue eyes, as it were, and as a result things took a rather
darker tone than I'd originally intended.  The darker tone better suits an
issue of CSV than the initially planned ASH installment, though, so it's all
good.

     I took a stab at making TerraStar on City of Heroes, and it turned out
the name was already taken on at least one server (Union), oops.  :)  So I
squatted the name on Justice and came up with this costume:
http://www.dvandom.com/CoX/terrastar1.JPG.  I tried the more obvious Stone
Armor power set, but it just looked wrong.  Also, due to the aesthetic
prejudices of the original graphic designer, you can't have a female
character with well-defined muscles.  I used her to create the Conclave of
Super-Villains as a Villain Group, so if you want to make up a CSV character
in City of Villains, let me know and I'll invite you to the group!  

============================================================================

     For all the back issues, plus additional background information, art,
and more, go to http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH !

     To discuss this issue or any others, either just hit "followup" to this
post, or check out our Yahoo discussion group, which can be found at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ash_stories/ !

     There's also a LiveJournal interest group for ASH, check it out at
http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=academy+of+super-heroes (if
you're on Facebook instead, there's an Academy of Super-Heroes group there
too). 

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