From: david goodner <david_goodner>

My thoughts on our villains of the season. Everything
expressed herein is my opinion, based on observation
and whatnot. It's all intended for discussion. I'm
not trying to tell anybody what to do. I just
couldn't think up a better heading for "What should
happen." Those are just my ideas.

The Nemesis (or the Space Spawn, or those ugly green
guys)

Goal: Rob the earth of its magical energy, which they
want to fuel their own magical nature.

Methods: Usually they'd use their (psychic) power to
subvert the native population and attack by direct
means. For some reason they're going to hang out
around mars for five years or more before doing so.
(That's just about enough time for a round trip from
Earth to Mars, by the way) In the mean time, they're
going to bombard earth with rocks. Presumably their
goal in this is to weaken the earth's defenses.

Response: The world at large tries to make contact,
but the Nemesis don't bother to answer, or their
answers aren't very helpful. For story purposes, they
can't just openly declare war, or we'd rise up and
smite them as soon as possible.

My thoughts: The Nemesis are highly intelligent,
magical beings. Their magical tradition is entirely
different than either mortal Sorcery or Faerie
Glamour. It's probably more "scientific," like
psionic powers and techno-magic. Their psychology
should be utterly alien, but we can't really write
that, since we only have human minds to work with.
What I have in mind, though, is that they don't
understand the sanctity of any lives but their own.
It's not that they don't recognize humans as
intelligent, but that they just don't care. They
believe that everything in the universe exists for
their exploitation. They're not stupid, though.
Their early scouts reported that the inhabitants of
earth were very powerful, and the Guardian was
waiting, so they're being cautious.

What should happen: The Nemesis set up shop on Mars
as planned. SETI types send them messages, which are
ignored. NASA sends a peace mission which is never
heard from again.

They start asteroid bombardment with mass drivers.
Earth can defend itself, but the constant bombardment
still causes problems. Large meteors are blasted into
smaller fragments, but the numerous impacts still
destroy property, and disrupt the weather. This is a
background to everything. Nobody knows why the
Nemesis have it in for the earth. Even Nokkar has
never really learned much about them. One of their
early targets is Easter Island, which destroys or
limits whatever help he could have given. (I think
that's a little more dramatic than just having his
stuff be out of date.) Of particular importance is
the fact that the Nemesis destroy Nokkar's "Star
Beacon" or whatever. If he'd had it, he could have
called an army of his people. Without it, the earth
is on its own.

The Unseelie

Goals: Temporal power, revenge against various
enemies, and a chance to indulge sociopathic urges.

Methods: Tricky. The survivors of the last war should
know that Madoc's tactics won't work. Even with all
the advantages, he lost his 20 front war. Now the TUC
doesn't have near as many advantages. Besides, Garlon
is (sort of) in charge, and he's sneaky out of pure
habit. Instead of a frontal assault on multiple
targets, the new Unseelie probably work differently.
They'll have to use stealth, guile, and dirty tricks.
They'll also have to slowly carve out territory they
can hold, particularly gaining control over
manufacturing facilities since they need weapons.

My thoughts: I personally thought the Unseelie in the
last war were stupid. They expended energies on
useless objectives, and fought battles they could have
avoided. Of course, Madoc was a paranoid
megalomaniac. His tactics could be explained because
he had to defeat anyone who dared to threaten his
plans. Garlon's a whole new ball game. I'd like to
see the Unseelie fighting a secret war, using sabotage
and spying whenever possible, and offering
"protection" to people they want to control.

A big problem I just realized today – Last time around
Oberon wouldn't fight because he was afraid of what
would happen if he faced Madoc. This time around, the
Seelie are vastly more powerful than the Unseelie.
Maybe when Avalon gets sealed, the Seelie should be
mostly stuck INSIDE instead of outside. Either that,
or we need to make sure they're weakened because
they're cut off from their power source.

What should happen: The Unseelie are the principal
threat of the Clan. They capitalize on the chaos
caused by the Nemesis, carving out territory. Since
New York has massive political and strategic
importance, and since defeating the Manhattan Clan
would feed Maeve's desire for vengeance, a lot of the
fighting will take place in New York. Most of this is
actually a distraction to keep the Gargoyles from
realizing what the Unseelie are really after. Not
until the Unseelie have built up enough strength to be
a major threat should the Clan realize what was going
on. (Also, having Maeve engaged with the Clan in New
York would keep her out of Garlon's way – which she
wouldn't be happy to discover)

Apep

Goal: to shroud the earth in darkness. Unless he's
just really stupid, he has to know that doing so would
lead to the death of all life on earth. I assume he
doesn't care, or sees that as a benefit.

Methods: Not much is known (at least to me). He's
been collecting magical energy and pyramids for
SOMETHING, so I assume he's got a big spell in mind.
His personal agent, Harthoth, is very smart and has
been at this for a very long time, so he's not going
to do anything to tip his hand. My guess is that Apep
has been saving up energy for a spell to kill the
sun-god. (Set did it, and this time Isis is stuck in
Avalon, so there'd be no one to bring him back to
life) I don't know exactly what he's planning to do
with the faerie energy he's been collecting, but it
has to be something big.

My thoughts: I know some of you who have been here
longer don't agree, but it still seems to me that
Harthoth has been subtly against Apep since Sun and
the Serpent. He follows orders, but tries to deflect
the worst of Apep's plans, particularly where they
concern Harthoth's friends. I assume he'll still be
doing that, trying to protect the people he cares
about while being compelled to obey Apep. Somewhere
along the way, he probably has to heroically sacrifice
his life to save the world.

What should happen: While everyone else is busy,
Brooklyn, Sata, and the kids have to deal with Apep.
The coordination of all this is going to be difficult.
I'd personally save the bulk of Apep's plot for the
next season, but set it up in this season. Otherwise,
things are going to be very … hectic. If we're
determined to pull them off together, we need to
figure out what Apep would do about the Unseelie and
what the Unseelie would do about him.

Maybe someone could be investigating Apep's actions as
a background to what's going on with the Unseelie war.
Then Harthoth could be manipulating the Unseelie to
some end, so that their downfall is the trigger for
Apep's rising. It would be very dramatic if Brooklyn
had to choose between an easy victory over the
Unseelie that leads to Apep being freed or a long hard
fight where Apep might get freed anyway. (Not too
easy a victory – but a decisive victory at a crucial
moment – like if someone offered the Rebels the plans
to the Death Star in return for the rebirth of the
Sith Empire)

I hope some of that makes sense.

David G.