From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Contents 1 Comments 1.1 Names and places, pictures and faces 2 Kudos 2.1 Canon

Comments

When my first character (Miss Megajoule) hit 50, I wanted to make a new one that fit in better with the native, KR-based characters of D.F.B. Crew. Can't do much better than this, eh? Almost by accident, he led me into my most ambitious CoH-related writing project to date - Faces of the City, an attempt to capture the essence of each of Paragon City's zones.

Inspirations for the Row as a concept included Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, the urban elementals of Shadowrun, and various works of modern fantasy which suggest that cities (and neighborhoods) have spirits just as people and animals do. The Row himself draws from every world-weary film noir detective and every working man and woman just trying to make it through another week, as well as the lore of the Depression and the masked pulp-fiction heroes of that era. -- Megajoule

This is WIkkid!! Good job! ~ The Nitedevil

Names and places, pictures and faces

You might want to take a look at Back Yard Boom, a hero from the High Park neighborhood and The Back Yards, the part of High Park that juts up against The Gish and the King Garment Works neighborhood.

Have done so. Looks good! -- Megajoule

Kudos

Yeah, this is really nicely rendered, and well-prosed, too. It's got the same kind of hard-luck feel that I was trying to invoke with Fatal Harmonic, and indeed, reminds me of his own bitterness towards 'heroes' who call themselves 'heroes of King's Row' and the like. It's very nicely done, no two ways about it.

Also, if he weren't dead, Matthew McGrory might have worked well for the guy. - Talen Lee, Ninja' modin'

Thanks. Seeing Harmonic's writeup yesterday was a big motivator for me to finally sit down and write this guy up for the wiki. I dig your concept too.

I'd like to integrate the Row into the stories of heroes like FH, and Juvie and the Dodgers, and Back Yard Boom and others - not in a huge way, just that at some point he's appeared to them and offered encouragement and a promise of aid when he can. "You're doin' good, kid... keep it up." To Harmonic and other sensitives, he's probably even more familiar.

I really hope I'm not being too presumptuous or godmoding with this, but of all my characters, this one works better the more people are aware of him and are willing to acknowledge/include him. -- Megajoule

Absolutely. It's not like you're throwing your weight around and telling us what we have to do - it's almost like an urban myth. If everyone believed in it, it would lose some of its value, surely?

That Harlem is an Earth/Sonic controller nigh-on-desperate to make friends with People Who Hit Things is a secondary concern in my mind. I think it'd be quite appropriate in his case to see the Row as a living thing, and for the Spirit to be, well, very real and very present in his mind. I'd be more than happy to include some notes on his page as far as affiliations go - just like I wait for the day I see someone else referencing '93rd Street' in King's. - More Ninja'd Talen.

Allow me to also extend admiration and congrats. A lot of my heroes (SoulTrain in particular) have an affinity for the folks living in the Row... so it'd be cool to run across the 'spirit' at some point.

-- Soul Train 06:55, 11 July 2007 (MST)

Canon

You asked on The Artful Dodgers if we would consider you canonical or not, while I can't answer for the whole of the Dodgers I can extend my own characters views on believing in spirits. While Albino Tempast was raised in Paragon City, she never went around the Row as a child because her parents were much more situated in Founders Falls. As well since she's so young she never really would have heard about the spirit, however since she has a high affinity to magical sources there's a very good chance that she would be able to pinpoint where the spirit was before other heroes could.

In the case of Royal however, I have to say that she would be much more akin to hearing tale of the Spirit. Royal grew up in the Row, down in the Gish, and its highly possible that she has not only heard of the spirit but had the supernatural encounters mentioned (Loose bricks, Lowered fire escapes.) However as she has no affinity toward the magical, it would be hard to tell if she could knowingly find the spirit, it would have to find her. It also might be a bit to the spirits malcontent that she's claiming to be the 'Queen of Kings Row.' --Energeiz

This character and the subsequent fiction you have been writing is pure inspiration. Surely, you are the muse of many City players. Have you considered taking King through the Etoile Isles? As an avid Redsider, I can't help but imagine what an encounter between King and maybe St. Martial or Nerva's spirit would be like! I truly hope to meet King on one of my incarnations some day! You rock. -- Ant