Darkwatch Backstories (and other tangents)

So, on a hunch, I took a look back in the main Multiverse page for the backstories of the characters I haven't unlocked yet. They do have all the ones from the newest video game launch up (Gloom Spite, Skinwalker Glomy, Darkwatch Nightmist, ect.)

The reason I started a thread over this is because Darkwatch Nightmist's is very cool and might hold some hints as to her fate later on in the timelines.

So, Nightmist went outside our world (most probably a section of the Realm of Discord) and "reached out into the void and drank deep of the eldritch power she found there" to power-up to fight bigger threats. Then she couldn't return home. She actually became a magical being according to the text and was locked out of our world. She also became a target for other such beings, who she fought for "centuries". Finally she learned of a portal, tossed aside everyone fighting at the mouth of the portal, turned it to point home and showed back up days after her initial disappearance. However, she is still a magical being. This makes it much easier that some mystic force banished her, or perhaps whatever closed the timelines in Tactics might have severed her connection and pushed her back. Also possible that she got super-charged by an oblivion shard and her cursed form/side took over and she's the mist from Tactics (not a new theory, but now with more hows and whys)

Nightmist Tangents:

I wonder if the either the portal or the void from which Nightmist drew power is related to the "Spinning Vortex" in the Realm of Discord, and also if any of that relates back to the The Scholar of the Infinite, perhaps he didn't become a portal as much as line himself up with an existing portal. It is also occuring to me that we have beings called "Portal Fiends" in the Realm of Discord which might reference this. It's possible that the heroes did not previously notice the portal or many of the beings in the Realm because they were not on the correct wavelength being mortal beings as compared to magical beings and Nightmist saw a lot of it after shifting between the two.

Re-reading through Nightmist's backstory I remembered "The Master". I don't remember what we ended up deciding about the Master, but I wonder if it ended up being Zhu Long. Not only is he the only old mystic Chinese guy we've seen, but looking over the arc of Nightmist she seems to the type of person who continually gets involved in bad situations and dark forces that she doesn't understand until it is too late, impulsive to a point since she joins the FV in an investigation before her "Master" thinks she is ready for such tasks. We also do not know Zhu Long's end goal or motivation, so it is possible he played the long game against Nightmist, originally just trying to mold her into a powerful servant for himself but after she went against orders and aligned with the heroes he saw she was gathering power, leading to a completely seperate plan that he launched against her before Tactics. The only "problem" is that we know Nightmist confronted Zhu Long to get Fixer back, but either this was when she recognized him for who he was (doubtful because I think that would have been mentioned) or being a powerful mystic he had hidden himself and she didn't recognize him.

Not sure if this was mentioned before, but GloomSpite and Skinwalker confirm a few things. It seems like Jack Donovan was killed by the Wraith, perhaps secretly or seperate from the rest of the team. Gloomweaver brought Spite back and gave him a mission. Kill a bunch of people and form Gloomweaver a body made from the corpses (I wonder if dismemberment was a signature of Jack's serial killing before this?). If he failed, then his body and soul would be sacrificed and Gloomweaver would use them as his portal into our world. My bet is that Spite failed, because Spite's body was ravaged by the drugs and that made his vessel imperfect, which would explain why Skinwalker's flip side is so self-destructive, the massive power of Gloomweaver could maintain the body for a time, but it began crumbling under the strain and Gloomweaver desperately killed and consumed trying to keep it intact, only to fail yet again.

I also just saw the blog post from two days ago about Villains of the multiverse, some of those are really cool

Yeah I agree with a lot of what you are thinking. There is a lot to unpack in that DW Nightmist bio.

Your thoughts about certain cards in the Realm of Discord enviro deck I think are particularly interesting. Things like Portal Fiends and Spinning Vortex were kind of abstract and hard to place outside of just being generic "weird realm" things. But I really like the idea of the Portal Fiend being one of the things Nightmist fought at the portal back to our world. It adds new context to often overlooked cards that make their inclusion in the decks so much more interesting.

I wonder if DW Nightmists incap art is from the time when she was stuck. That confrontation with Gloomweaver on his throne is such a cool piece of art and I wonder about the context of that scene.

I've said it multiple times in different threads that I think the "old chinese master" is likely Zuh Long. Most of these characters in SotM are interconnected and I have strong doubts that Christopher would interject just some random stereotypical generic chinese master. I dont think he would be able to resist giving that character more depth. With that said, Zuh Long is really the only fit we have. Maybe its a character that has yet to be introduced, a sort of moral good counterpart to Zuh Long, but we dont have anything to back up that kind of speculation.

Strong work. I really like the connections you are making here.

I like the ideas.  I'm sure whomever Nightmist's master is will be cleared up eventually.  

As far as Spite goes he died due to a combination of his drugs and what Wraith had thrown at him.   Also, Wraith is never officially part of the Dark Watch team from anything seen so far. However, I find it hard to imagine that being part of a villain's death would preclude her from being part of Dark Watch considering that Expat likely has killed her share of thugs.    Maybe Christopher is trying to limit membership to just one team for each hero?    

Wraith has a lot of responsibilities already with the Freedom 5 to take care of. But I'm 100% sure that she crosses paths with the DW team often. She is in some Dark Watch comics in that Tactics timeline for instance, and they both operate mainly in and around Rook City. 

I get that.   It's just that Wraith has never officially been listed as a member.   I know in Marvel at some points Wolverine and Spider-man have been  active member of multiple teams. 

I think... hmm...

Two things. First off, Wraith is in the Freedom Five and very busy with immeninent world threats, as mentioned above, as well as patrolling Rook City on her own and running her multi-billion business. Adding a third team and patrols would probably be too much.

Secondly, I wonder if Dark Watch simply approaches things differently from Wraith... Many possiblilities but for example Gloomy's cult could be sacrificing a bunch of random people. Wraith might go and stop the murderers while Dark Watch goes after the Cult Leader responsible. Wraith deals with the immediate safety of the citizens, Dark Watch the root cause of the danger. Or perhaps one group is more proactive in dealing with crimes (preventing them before they happen) and one is more reactive (catching the people who commited crimes). The list can go on.

Also, Rook city is big enough that they can probably both be doing the same thing, and there still be usolved mayhem going on.

Edit: Thinking about it Foote, I doubt her incap is from when she was trapped. None of the Incap I am aware of takes place before the character on he flip side is... cohesive? Complete?

Ooh. Tangent. I wonder if Fixer's hat from his flip side represents a scene where the heroes find where Fixer fought the Operative alone, and all that remains is a blood spatter and his hat, since we know the villains took his body to Zhu Long.

Expatriette's incapiswhere she loses her eye, which has to be from before  her front side

Emigrant's song.  It is a series of cards involving Don't Dismiss Anything, Incendiary and Cryo Rounds and RPG Launcher.

Don't Dismiss Anything and Expat's incap have the same wall as background, the rain washing the Citizens of the Sun logo (in blood no less) from the wall on DDA.  DDA is Emigrant's Song #2, her incap is likely from #1.  #3-5 all show Expat on the attack in Insula Primalis.

That is my go-to sequence of cards when people ask me if the characters have a story.

Wraith is first a detective, she gathers information, and Rook City is a place that has ties to everything.  I have no doubt they interact.

I imagine they don't always get along, but they would cooperate, and have likely worked together.

I really want to know which heoroes actually dont like working together. There has to be some very tense pairings.

Based on the Proverbs and Axioms card it would seem that Scholar isn't a fan of a Legacy.    Legacy seems to conflict with some of AZ's actions based in Impale.   Based on his backstory and story quotes it doesn't appear that a lot of heroes are very fond of Setback outside of the Dark Watch group.   

On the flip side of that, I'm curious which heroes actually like working with Guise and aren't entirely annoyed by him.   

I really want to know which heoroes actually dont like working together. There has to be some very tense pairings.

 Ra and Fanatic have a lot of... friction.

I could certainly see that.  One is a manifestation of an Egyptian god and the other believes their power comes from God.  Religion often has caused or been a cause of conflict throughout history.  

Edit: Christopher, do any flavor of the cards currently show any interactions between Ra and Fanatic either in the card art or flavor text?  I know nothing comes up to mind to me.  

How many ways should that be taken?

Fanatic's card Undaunted has a quote in the fluff text of her and Ra - I believe it's "I'm invincible!", "You're a loony". I only remember that one because Monty Python :D.

I think a few. I understand it that Ra/Fanatic have a love/hate relationship. Sexual tension that can never really be resolved and whatnot.

Fanatic is the one who saves Ra when he is chained up by the Ennead. I forget the comic name, but I think it's "Trial by Fire"? Don't have cards in front of me to look it up and the Enhanced Edition proofs are no longer avaliable in the PT forum to reference.

Edit: Baptism By Fire. Thats it.

I'd forgotten that one.  Though he specially says you're a lunatic in the card spoilers spreadsheet not loony.  It comes from Baptism By Fire # 1.

Does anyone else find it funny that the cover for Baptism By Fire #4, which depicts only Fanatic and Ra, is in the Villain Challenge Mode document despite every other cover in that document primarily focusing on a villain or group of villains?

Since the Ennead have a quote in that series they are the villain for it.  However, I would agree it's certainly speaks to their contentious relationship in that cover.