Welcome to Murderworld!
You see it once, you never come home again.
Okay, okay, so MUSHs are, by and large, lame. I've probably spent far
too much time on them (total) in my life. At least when time pressures
get high they're the first thing to go. Anyway, the current main
character I'm playing is Arcade on the
Uncanny X-MUSH, which is based on
Marvel Comics' "X-books". Which, of course, remind me of my geek upbringing
reading comic books and storing them improperly so that they are now
worth only a fraction of what they really ought to be.
THE MURDERWORLD FAQ
1. What is Murderworld?
"How about an IC quote?"
"How about it?"
"Well, can I have one?"
"I suppose."
"Murderworld isn't a place. It's a state of mind. No, wait a
minute, I made a mistake. It's a place."---Arcade
Murderworld is the name Arcade gives to his deathtrap complexes, which he
builds to destroy his prey. They incorporate incredibly advanced
technology, even for a comic book universe. Generally, Murderworld
deathtraps have several traits:
- They are needlessly complicated.
- They are overly violent.
- They are more devious than comic book heroes (admittedly not
difficult.)
- They are often very insulting.
- They are very very expensive.
- Many times, for no readily apparent reason, they will explode.
("It's visual!")
2. Why play Arcade?
REASON NUMBER ONE: HATE
Many times it seems like everyone in the Marvel Universe has it out for
Arcade. He's horked off Dr. Doom, the X-Men, Excalibur, and any number
of other supernormally powerful groups. He has a contemptuous attitude
and a grating personality that makes him nearly impossible to get along
with, and a delusionally secure belief that he is the smartest being on
the planet, and you know what? He probably isn't that far from wrong.
On the MUSH I have continued this tradition of hate. The premise of
the MUSH is that Stryfe (another generic Marvel politically-minded mutant
terrorist with massive cosmic powers, yawn yawn YAWN) actually killed
Professor Xavier dead dead (not just comic-book dead, which he has been
several times before.) Well, did Stryfe even ask Arcade
if he could kill Xavier? No, he didn't. And he killed him with a gun, a
major crime against style (see below.) So logically the only thing for
Arcade to do was drag Stryfe off to Murderworld and put him on trial for
essentially, being boring. Stryfe was not amused. Arcade, however, was.
Loudly amused.
REASON NUMBER TWO: VILLAINS ROCK.
Villains are the coolest things about comic books. Batman is boring
compared to the Joker. Vote for Senator Kelly and watch for the silver
lining. Vote several times for Senator Kelly and watch for the cops.
Villains get to start fights, whereas heroes can only finish them.
Villains are not constrained by petty laws or dumb ideas of morality.
Heroes are often whining sycophants who need nothing more than a good
spanking. And the key: Villains can be smart, even brilliant, whereas
the smartest heroes in the world are dumber than rocks.
There's only one thing the heroes can do that villains can't:
Win in the end.
REASON NUMBER THREE: STYLE.
Arcade has a style all his own. This is why he wears those ridiculous
outfits and eschews the ordinary trappings of the assassin (dark clothes,
high-powered rifles and tall buildings.)
"Style" with Arcade is a euphemism for "insanity." Sure, he's homicidal,
sure he's nuts, but he's brilliant too, and that combination is what
makes him dangerous.
Logs
Download The Arcade Logs
Collection. I've compressed and zipped all the Arcade logs described
below into a single file for ease of download. Have fun.
- The Big Fight, So To Speak.
Stryfe contacts Arcade, and off he, the mercenaries and the Guardians go
to duke it out with him! Unfortunately, my net failed at the last minute
and I had to leave. Still waiting on the climax of the conflict from
everyone else. You get the point, though.
- The Guardians Speak Complete
Sentences, Mostly. The belowmentioned Guardians have a meeting to
decide what to do about Arcade.
- Arcade Enlists The Guardians.
A group of non-feature character do-gooders (i.e. you won't find them in
the comics) is enlisted by Arcade to make the struggle against Stryfe
more flashy.
- Stryfe Speaks A Complete
Sentence. As well as briefing his goons for revenge against Arcade:
see the next log, too.
- Stryfe + Arcade: Together
Again. Arcade's latest escape from captivity. What a pair.
- Escape From Murderworld. Not really an Arcade story, this details
Wolverine/Logan and Jean Grey's escape from Murderworld. You may need to
read the previous log before you really get the full effect. You may also
need to know that Arcade had previously kidnapped Jean and Logan in order
to force their comrades to participate in his mock trial of Stryfe, which
I don't have a log of yet.
- Murderworld Love Affair. Who says
being held as ideological hostages can't be romantic? Logan and Jean,
trapped together, give in to those hormones that they've been throwing
around since they first met. They're in love again and Arcade love love
loves it, even though he doesn't really appear until the end. (He loves
it mostly because it means it will sow seeds of dissent among the Xers
and contribute to the amazingly continuous decline of their lives.)
Another file you might find to be of interest is my application for
Arcade, the character application I sent in that analyzes Arcade's
personality (such as it is) and background (also such as it is.)
Murderworld Links
Take me back to Jason's MU* Page.
Take me
back to Jason's Writing Page.
Take me back to Jason's homepage.
Jason Corley --
corleyj@chronic.lpl.arizona.edu