Welcome back, everyone!
A new year, a new sequel for my crossover shenanigans. Let's not delay any further- after all, this is but a trailer for what is to come.
Avatar: Rhythm of War
Prologue: Glacial Prescience
In the bleak depths of winter, on an unknown world, the bitter, chilling wind howled, swirling around a pair of visual anomalies- two eerily detailed, shadowy, and vaguely human figures that circled each other like saber-toothed tigers preparing for a hunt.
The first of these apparitions was appearing to yield, after being ambushed and viciously knocked to the ground by his rival, who used the arctic mist and fog to the best of her advantage.
"Got me again, didn't you? Well, you sure are pugnacious!"
"You'll make for a good standard of merit for the new recruits to follow, and perhaps an even better drill sergeant Commissar to whip them into shape than I currently am. My, oh my, am I getting old for this job."
"Hell, you could become a general of some sort, should you prove yourself worthy in time. I have high expectations for you, heiress of the South Pole... so don't you dare disappoint me."
The other warrior's reply was surprisingly brash and arrogant.
"Hmph! I'm pretty damn sure you're plenty satisfied with my performance in the proving grounds, Commissar Noatak... you should just admit it at this point!"
"Watch your tongue, Scargiver! Don't get snappy with me. That vainglorious pride of yours is your biggest hindrance as a fighter. You may be confident in your abilities, and you certainly have the skills to back your words up, but underestimating your foe is always a dangerous mistake, one which could potentially cost your life and even the lives of your comrades."
Following this slipup, she apologized to her tutor, and engaged in a meaningful dialogue, one which provided tantalizing information:
"Understood, Commissar. Knowing what my chief flaw is, I couldn't have asked for a better mentor than you. Your humility has helped me to think things through lately. Though, I do recommend that we should return to base camp soon. An icy storm is brewing, and I have a terrible gut feeling that I'm not just referring to the weather... the dreams I've been having are showing me things that leave me gasping in frightful disbelief and premonition each and every morning."
"I wish Katara was still here, Noatak. She knew the legend himself, the last remaining Air Nomad, before his final sacrifice. Maybe she could have made sense of my restless imagination with those Waterbending divination techniques she learned, in the Astra Telepathica. But that's all just wishful thinking, now that the one and only Azurite Shield is gone for good."
"Don't mourn her death, student of mine. Instead, we should both thank the Emperor that a person like her ever lived, and that her legacy inspired courage, perseverance and action in countless individuals."
"Now, as you were mentioning, let's make haste and leave before this storm catches us!"
Then, without any warning, a bright multicolored light and deafening, blaring sound erased every trace of what had just happened.
Sokka woke from his long slumber in stasis with a scream, his fortified mind left reeling from the ominous clarity of the dream.
The Champion Duelist of the 12th Borealis Company laid in his hibernation bed covered in sweat, clearly not the result of sleeping for nearly half a decade covered in blankets and sheets made of the thickest otterbear fur and most insulated dragonhawk hide.
He gathered his bearings and soon realized that he was the only person occupying the stasis sleeping compartment of the ship- none of Sokka's fellow Astartes were still snoozing in the hibernation bunks, which meant only one thing... the expedition ship was approaching its destination in realspace, and the trip across the dark sea of the void was nearly over.
Not wanting to be late to work, the Champion Duelist got geared up in his artificer power armor stored in the rear locker bay, grabbed his laser gunblade and aurora shock shield, and left the sealed area where time stood still to join his brothers and sisters from the Legion's Five Orders.
The Order of the Narwhal, the Order of the Theropod, the Order of the Dragon, the Order of the Condor, and the Order of the Lion Turtle were the Spirit Wardens' five branches of warfare, each one specializing in tackling a different battlefield situation, with members of each respective Order deriving their traditions and fighting styles from those of the elemental nations on Kaurava, the world where the miraculous psychic Bending powers were first invented.
A task that demanded attention from all five branches of what was possibly the most efficient and versatile Space Marine Legion was a mission that would almost certainly be decisive in securing the Imperium's victory, and by extent, Mankind's survival in a cruel, unforgiving universe.
This campaign was a big deal, something that took decades to plan, and an intergalactic journey of at least 5 years just to put into operation.
Now outfitted in his battlefield regalia, Sokka wasted no time in hustling to the ship's teleporter and getting to where he was needed most, noting that at least some of his compatriots would be disappointed with him being late.
Still, the bizarre dream was largely to blame for this major inconvenience. It was as if the two shadows in the blizzard were talking about the far future... but that wasn't possible, was it? Sokka knew he wasn't a Bender or any other kind of Psyker, for that matter. Only the most powerful of magic users could catch a glimpse of the future, and even that was a big gamble, considering the inherent dangers and vices associated with using sorcery too frequently or without restraint.
Bending was an exception to this, being largely rooted in the physical world, of course- so what the hell was this all about?
The blademaster eventually put these troubling thoughts aside, though, as he had bigger fish to skewer right now. The main priority remained the same, finding out what purpose he would end up fulfilling in the expedition.
One thing about this long haul did unnerve Sokka, to some degree... none of the Astartes, Guardsmen and other combat personnel aboard the ship had been informed of the specific context behind the job. What exactly needed to be kept under wraps for such a long time?
Perhaps the truth would be unveiled as the voyage came to an end. Since it took 5 whole Terran years of travel to reach the unknown objective, even with the fastest, safest and most effective form of faster-than-light Warp propulsion, there was no way of guessing who or what had been waiting out here in the intergalactic void, tempting the servants of the Imperium and the Benders of the Elements to come ever closer.
Neither was there much evidence pointing to why the Emperor of Mankind commissioned such an arduous odyssey, or solid proof suggesting how the Imperium would handle the completely unexpected, extremely radical discoveries it made while exploring the distant frontier.
One thing was assured in the minds of the fleet's countless crew members, though- the uncertainty would all change in the blink of an eye one day, an attitude that convinced everybody aboard the expeditionary vessels that the quest for knowledge and enlightenment was worth dedicating everything towards, regardless of the risks that came along the way.
With all that being true, Sokka only hoped that his bizarre dreams would lead to something greater, with weight in reality, instead of merely being iridescent and incomprehensible pictures in his head.
This was a sample journal account taken from aboard the Second Legion's oldest and most venerated capital ship,"The Dragon Reborn."
Yeah, that was a rather short chapter, even for a prologue teaser. And I'm still in the long process of writing that Elemental Space Marines wiki codex, the one I always said I would build, which I'm also juggling with a plethora of other drafts and scripts.
Well, because of that, I'd like to share something different for a change- a concept I've been making for an original comic book universe, as original as I could be within an exceptionally cliche and overdone genre (in many people's opinions.)
Yes, I want to make an homage and an ode to the classic superhero stories created by Hollywood founding fathers like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Specifically by crafting all kinds of characters, heroes and villains with over-the-top feats, goals and abilities, but with very relatable, sympathetic, inspiring and otherwise deep dive type backstories.
Invincible and the Whateley Universe both come to mind.
The former is the recently popular superhero show on Amazon Prime featuring Omni-Man and his son, who aspires to be like his dad one day, it's an expansive universe which now has a third season in the works, and is actually a lot more graphic when it comes to levels of violence than other animated series in the same genre.
The latter is a grand collaboration project between a bunch of authors on the Internet, featuring a superhero school named after a famous character from H.P Lovecraft's cosmic horror books, (Wilbur Whateley,) it's a school for superhuman outcasts where mutants learn to bend the rules of reality itself to chase their ambitions and careers.
I dub this ambitious project of mine:
THE LIMIT BREAKERS: NEW WORLD ORDER
Let's start this off with the setting where my cape tales take place- an alternate timeline from our own with some MAJOR DIFFERENCES.
First and most importantly, in the Limit Breakers chronology, the 20th century saw a gradual change in the global status quo that would forever change the trajectory of human civilization as we know it... actual superhumans becoming a thing through an unanticipated surge of sudden genetic mutation, combined with terrifying, apprehensive paranormal events and even some possible evidence of a far-off extraterrestrial conspiracy organized by immensely powerful interstellar beings.
On top of that, international politics and affairs have also shifted accordingly- for example, after the Second World War, the impoverished and oppressed people of the Soviet Union overthrew the Communist Party, seeing it as a disgraceful failure that became the very thing it sought to destroy, and began the process of forming a new government based on democratic socialism in its most literal meaning, essentially "capitalism with ethics" where corporations are expected to obey rules and take responsibility for their actions.
Yes, Russia and its Republics ended up becoming one of America's staunchest allies, instead of being our chief enemy during the Cold War, embracing a national constitution very similar yet distinct from that of the United States, to make sure neither the government nor corporate entities could seize the means to establish authoritarian tyranny.
Another, very contrasting and divergent superpower would take the place of the Soviet Union as the greatest enemy of the "free world," a federation formed from the majority of the nations and cultures composing Mankind's ancestral birthplace, the nigh-unstoppable African Union.
The continent had not only recovered from its history of colonialism much faster than expected, through periods of intense and increasingly successful unified revolution, but used the very same weapons and methods of its oppressors to become a global economic and military superpower defined by ruthless, profit-driven pragmatism, as well as a desire to strike back at the lying, vainglorious usurpers of the world.
The sheer hypocrisy displayed by the African Union's government would not be lost on the rest of the world. In fact, this one factor would fuel the neo-imperialist regime's biggest hindrance, and sabotage its own plans for the future.
This information, of course, doesn't even account for the changes in other major countries in this timeline. While the government structure of the United States, Canada and Western Europe remained largely the same, other places weren't so lucky, and the nations that did remain stable in the era of rising turmoil needed to adapt in some way, resulting in new institutions and administrations being established.
Most notable by far were the dedicated groups to handle the escalating stranger things, such as the rampant increase of the superhuman population (like My Hero Academia's Quirk appearance, albeit on a much smaller scale,) the previously mentioned dreadful paranormal activity (science is coming closer to discovering what could be the afterlife,) plus the expanding archive of sinister evidence pointing towards advanced alien civilizations (sooner or later we might find out that a lot of the things we know about the universe are totally wrong.)
The SCP Foundation was one of my key inspirations for the Limit Breakers prototype comic book, so looking into that will provide you with a good visual of what's in my head when I'm building an alternate Earth.
Apart from that, because of all the people with powers, learning more about themselves and the world they live in, there will be archetypal teams of heroes and villains in this setting, working towards common objectives... that's how the eponymous Limit Breakers will make their first debut, through the exploits of someone who used their gifts and skills for the benefit of others.
The characters I created will get a short story or wiki article of their own in the near future, provided I am in the mood to write.
Honestly, I can't wait to share more about this project with other people. Your support by reading this means a lot to me. Though I might need to find an alternate website to publish on, which is dedicated to more original works.
-Spuddies