Difference between revisions of "The Chantry"

Pain! Every nerve flares with it. Your body sings with a crystalline agony that is transcendent in its intensity. But this is not a pain that makes you whimper like a struck animal, it makes you growl with fury at the indignity of it. It is a lesson, a challenge to be conquered, to remain unbowed and ultimately triumph over it. But in a moment it is gone though the memory of it lingers, as does the conviction that you were the master of it.

You have burdened yourself with so many unnecessary attachments. Your friends will only disappoint you; they are best cast aside. You will ultimately disappoint those you love; better to walk alone and be responsible only to yourself. This identity you've constructed is just an illusion to hide who you really are; not to everyone else, they are less than nothing, but to yourself. Your possessions, your job, your status: it is time for you to deny the hold they have on you and walk free and unfettered.

It is all your fault. The lives you've ruined along your path to glory. That Hellion who was forced into a life of crime when all other options were spent. That lonely member of the Lost who'd been spat on all his life until he finally found people who accepted him for who he was. That Sky Raider whose daughter depended on him to pay for her dialysis. Did you ever give a thought to the people you've been "defeating" in your quest to become a "true hero?" No, of course not, they're just points to be earned on some metaphorical scorecard.

You're no hero. You're a thug. A super-powered bully who metes out pain and suffering in equal measure. What kind of person are you, who finds inspiration in the broken bodies and shattered lives you've left in your wake? What kind of person has their life enhanced every time some "villain" crumples in a lifeless heap at your feet? Does it make you feel powerful? You're a leech, sucking the life from everyone who stands between you and your "noble goals" for a "better, safer society." Have you no shame?

You live in a dangerous world. Beset on all sides by foes that wish to destroy you and all you hold dear. You've seen countless friends and comrades fall in battle. You've seen their bodies burnt, their minds warped, their bones broken. You've heard their cries of pain and fear and echoed it with your own. How many have fallen by the wayside, unable to carry on in the face of such daunting odds, who've had their spirits broken by the constant toil, the never-ending hordes of villainous enemies who never tire and never give up?

Your life as a hero takes up so much of your time. Hours day and night patrolling the streets of Paragon City, casting down one villain after the next in your quest for glory and influence. Can nothing else in life command such devotion? The words of loved ones drowned out by the clamor of explosions and blasts of energy, the invitations of friends forgotten the moment a new crisis arises, competing interests shelved in preference for an assault upon just one more arch-villain's stronghold. Before you know it life has passed you by and moved on without you. Your loved ones have kindled romances with another. Your friends have crossed you off of their invite lists. Do you even remember what it was like before you became a hero?

You have been manipulated by this place. It has played you like a well-tuned instrument. It has fed you lies and thrown your shortcomings at your face. This place, by its very existence, mocks you and your attempts to understand it. Just as you think you've got a handle on this place it presents you with some new insanity to confound the senses. You feel anger growing like a cancer at the center of your being, a burning rage at every little indignity you've been made to suffer here. Each step you take is fueled by your anger; you will make the Shadow Shard and the things that call this place home pay for what they've done to you.

At last you have arrived. Every challenge faced you have cast down with blood and sweat, never once succumbing to despair or defeat. The Shadow Shard has tested you countless times and each time you have triumphed. No mind games or violations to your person could prevent you from reaching this point and now you stand at the pinnacle of the Chantry, the lord of this realm in spirit, if not in actuality.

You have spent a great deal of time working with the military at Firebase Zulu earning the Dimensional Explorer Day Job. Logging out in the Shadow Shard will earn you a Jetpack power, when you log back in, for a short time.

Firebase Zulu has classified you as A.W.O.L., but they wouldn't welcome you if you showed up, either.