It's the writing Superman problem. If you get him right he can solve almost any situation. In a team its hard for him not to be MVP. Its difficult to use him in a group without hin naturally occupying the spotlight.

There are good reasons why all-powerful characters are generally not included in adventuring teams.

This was something of a problem in the early Parodyverse, about the time we were acccreting contiuity and taking it a bit more seriously. There were a whole bunch of poster-characters with do-anything powers: Shaper of Worlds, Chronicler of Stories, Grim Reaper, Pierson's Porter,etc. I claim a bit of resposibility for folding them into a sort of cosmic heirarchy (like the Triumverate and other Office Holders as infinite-power police), introducing the Celestians who could overrule even the great powers, and find niches for beings like the Parody Master and the Void Spectre.

Of course, posters being posters, soon we had a new generation of do-anything characters whose power-sets managed to avoid or exceed any boundaries previously established. And so on. There was occasional friction when two posters' ultimate-power creations got into pissing contests with each other.

This left me with a couple of problems: 1. Acknowledging the investment of various posters in their uber-powered creations and 2. Finding anything interesting to do with characters who could scarcely appear in the same story as the rest of the cast without wiping away any drama except their own.

My general philosophy to manage this is to assume that a physical universe like the Parodyverse can only exist within certain parameters. Some powers might be able to push it beyond those boundaries but then, by the nature of that push, the whole creation breaks irrepairable. As an analogy, a real-life Superman might be strong enough to lift a car, but in real life the vehicle would crumple under its own weight when gripped by the bumper. In the same way, gross use of powers inside the Parodyverse that messes too much with free will or history or physical laws would negate the whole creation, meaning that those uses are actually impossible.

Now we have lots of very powerful entities established, in addition to the framework of maintainace beings, checks, and balances set in place by the Parodyverse's shadowy Creators. From Hell-Lords to dimensional rulers to Pantheon patriarchs, these beings have worked out where the limits are, how to respect them, and how to game them. They have established laws and marked out boundaries. When something pushes those boundaries there are both natural and "political" consequences.

Which brings us to Grimpenghast's current ambitions. In his own hell-plane he almost all-powerful. With legitimate reason, other beings in his power class (like Gaz' grandfather, the Oldman), could invade and fight him. If Gaz's soul had been unjustly stolen on Earth and dragged to Grimpenghast's realm then Oldman would have proper cause and could lead an Ausgardian army in war against Grimpenghast's forces. But since Gaz got to hell by other means (even if by means indirectly prompted by Grimpenghast), Gaz being there is a consequence of human free will (Privilege's, not the Juniors, but still...) So if Oldman came now, he'd be on the wrong side of cosmic law, attacking very much uphill. Grimpenghast would have a major advantage and probably be able to take the Oldman down in those circumstances, even though on a normal day it would be the other way round.

That's how Grimpenghast is lawyering the situation: if any of the Juniors' cosmic-level friends and supporters want to come and get them, the battleground is very much set in Grimpenghast's favour no matter how infinitely powerful the would-be rescuer is. That's the trap.




It's one of the burdens of having that kind of power level. Why doesn't she cure all illness, end all crime, and do away with poverty? It's because that would so alter free will and so change the universe that it would become meaningless. So she doesn't, even though she has to see the suffering she might have averted if she had been foolish enough to try. How is it fair to change reality for people who happen to be her friends but not for people who haven't been lucky enough to share a coke with her?

At a certain leavel of power, great power comes with great responsibility not to use it but to refrain from using it.

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FA is the most likely to judge by appearances. Danny is the most likely to be suspicious about the "appearing to be a teenage girl" thing.

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I would estimate that FA would probably call Faite "that creepy girl". Or maybe "that creepy fashion-challenged girl".

FA's not really a bully - she's been bullied - so she'd likely just keep her judgements to herself. She might say them to Kerry in private but never to Faite or in public.

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Danny might avoid her completely because she's nearly a direct opponent of his power. She'll know when he denies things, and he might be afraid if he pisses her off, she just might reverse all of it just so the Juniors can see what he's been doing. Of course really Faite has no intention of doing any of that, but it's the first time Danny has had to worry about it.

Danny is more the Hood's son than he likes to pretend. If he views Faite as a possible threat he wonp;t be scared of her; he'll look for ways to take her down. But if he's assured Faite isn't a danger to Kerry he'll leave well alone.

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As I said above, Kerry might love her, mostly because Faite will almost never have something to say when Kerry is talking.

"A girl who can make things blow up but chooses not to? What's wrong with her?"

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Additionally, she has green skin, so she's pretty obvious when she's out and about. Most people assume she's one of the Caphan-wannabe bodypaint cosplayer dom/sub lifestyle girls who infest the Parodyverse, but now its known there's a Caphan on campus she's getting a lot of attention.

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Now that's something Lara can relate to. She's been in a few public relations promotions for various organizations, and a lot of people now know who she is. If the two of them were walking together through campus, it's possible the entire press corps would show up to find out what's going on.

Four weeks into classes, Vespiir has probably walked through campus unaccompanied. The story did mention her houri dagger use. Off campus without the Juniors or Vizh is a new experience.