Mad Science 101

[anarcharnate]

*The chamber is huge, and even the slightest sound seems to echo up forever to the penumbric recesses of the cavernous roof, lurking far above on gargantuan pillars. The dark and dusty stone is lit by fitful candlelight which flickers and occasionally bursts as it catches a piece of cobweb, and the only sound is the chattering of bats far above and the distant howl of a wolf, along with the nervous shuffling of your boots. As the cloud which has obscured the unnaturally bright moon drifts free, lancing moonlight pierces the titanic stained-glass contents of the colossal gothic arch before you, igniting its frames into frozen glory. Scenes of bubbling retorts, test tubes, lightening conductors and burning windmills lurch before your eyes as you take in the icy majesty of these images. Slowly fog begins to curl out from the forest of thick pillars, and, gently wheezing, a low drone rises to your hearing. With a start, you realise that the gargantuan hulk of the ancient steam-powered machine in front of you has started to shudder, small wheels slowly beginning to spin and pistons hesitatingly starting to pump. As the drone rises the fog around you grows thicker and floor begins to shake. Suddenly, three notes sound clearly, bursting free of the roiling mass*
Duh-duh-duh…
*the energy of the place keeps rising as a beam of purest white light, only the thickness of a sheet of paper but 10ft long, springs up from a perfectly straight crack opening in the floor*
Duh-duh-duh duh dum-dum
*the main theme of “Night on Death Mountain” begins to rise to a crescendo as the crack widens, allowing a bald head to rise up out of the light, followed by a huge pair of glasses and an absurdly hunched back. His platform rising slowly from the blindingly illuminated fog, the small figure is eventually left standing behind an archaic lectern encrusted with grotesquely intricate carvings. Steam-powered violins sawing away in the background, he raises his head, finally, to look at you.
The light of genius turned to madness flickers behind his thick glasses*
“Bienvenue, greetings and Wilkommen, aus Mad Science 101! My name is Count Heinrich Von Disasterstein, Professor of Mad Science - but you can call me Herr Schulmeister.”
*he shifts position to stare at you more intently*
“I will be guiding you through this course to get your PhD in Mad Science; do not be mistaken in thinking that this will be easy, however, because it will in fact be back-breakingly, soul-destroyingly, incomprehensibly difficult. You should really have read the prospectus more cynically, to be honest. Shall we begin?”

-x-X-x-X-x-

I’ve wanted to do a thread of a Mad Science degree course for some time now, and I think I’ve finally got a suitable system by which it could be run, along with some ideas for assignments.
The thread will basically take the form of assignments; small projects to show your Mad Scientific potential, including (amongst others) designing a secret base, discovering a secret power source, and the final “thesis”, designing a Weapon of World Domination (WWD).
You will have two days maximum to write each assignment, and you then have a day down time to mark each other’s assignments on a range of issues measured in scales from 1-5 (this is rather than me marking them for you- accusation of bias, anyone?). Try to be honest and fair, although if you flame someone don’t come to me if they give you a 1 for everything. And if you join in, then you must mark everybody’s, even if it’s only to give them 1 in everything; it’ll mess up the totals at the end if you don’t.
Each assignment should be presented in a single, clearly marked post. Only this post will be considered for marking. It would also help if all of your marks were delivered in a single post as well.
Your totals will be added together at the end to form your mark on the course, and you can feel free to bear your accreditation of PhD (Mad Science) with pride, knowing that it was awarded by the will and judgement of your peers.
If anyone wants to vote without enrolling in the course, or has ideas for assignments, then please PM me.

-x-X-x-X-x-

“Your first assignment is simple enough- who are you?!? I mean, you just turn up in my Castle in the middle of the night… its disgusting, the behaviour nowadays, why back in my day….”
*drifting away in a cloud of nostalgic grumbling, the Count’s lectern sinks back down into his hole in the floor*

-x-X-x-X-x

You are required to present a character. You should be essentially human, although a certain level of weirdness is acceptable (even expected) with good explanation. I’ll vet anything too over-the-top or inadequately explained. No magic, psychic power etc., basically, although hack science is fine; that’s what the thread is about, after all.
Your first assignment will be marked on the following three criteria:
Name/Costume- every Supervillain has to have a cool persona. And coolness can always be marked from 1-5. No questions.
Originality/Coolness of shtick- every Supervillain also has a certain gimmick that makes them stand out- it might be affinity with an element or a certain weapon, or even penguins (heck, the Penguin was one of Batman’s scariest foes! Almost…). You must also have a clearly definable shtick, and an original/cool one. Bear in mind, your skills, goals, techniques, associates, minions, values and worldview will be shaped by your shtick; choose well, and try not to duplicate each other.
Background- one of the powers of an evil Supervillain is their ability to garner some kind of sympathy or identification from their audience. If someone’s feeling sorry for you it’s easier to spring your diabolical trap on them. Engaging, exciting and interesting histories should score higher.

[Hawk101]

Name: Cuthbert "Hard Boiled" Lonenton
Presentation: A man of only 3 and 1/2 foot, the top half of his body shaped like half an egg, practicaly has no neck, wears a lot of purple: velvet purple jacket + trousers+ white shirt + purple tie, cigar in mouth usualy being smoked, purple walking cane which happens to be titanium, purple bolar hat.

Originality/Coolness of shtick: His tough attitudes yet purple short egg-like appearence. Makes his large 7ft body gaurds wear purple ( but not in a gay way . He is a master of psycology, he intends to take over the world by designing a device that will somehow zombify all people under him and turn them into purple loving egg-ilke freaks too !
He has conections in cuba and america alond with russia and thinks he has the potential to start a third world war.
Background: As a child he was neglected. His parents abandoned him at birth and at the orphanage he grew up rejected. He wanted to learn about the human mind so that he could finaly understand the reason for which he was always so left alone. ;(

[Flaag]

Name: "The Camel"
Born to a nomad tribe in the gobi dessert (recent sources say it may be a trifle dry there :P) he was cast out due to his hunched back and hoof like hands, however he was taken in by a group of wandering wild camels, which led him to water. After many years of learning their camelly ways he returned to humanity, but was cast out as a freak, now he plans to learn some mad science to make many important figures as deformed as he is. (aside from Bush, I mean, you cant get much worse than half-monkey)
/ooc/ are we allowed to make political jokes on the forums?/ooc/

[flapjack]

ooc/ if we weren't, half the GD peeps would be banned :P /ooc

nickname: Nitrogen
costume: Frosty blue clothes + robe, details will vary. All exposed skin is light blue, with light blue hair as well.
originality: likes cold, lots of cold, intents to take over the world by converting those who pledge eternal obedience to him to the same, cold loving, mutants as he is, then freezing the world over a few times to start a new ice age (or 3). (special weapons are the cold ray and the mutator cannon, which insta-freeze and mutate people, his special ability lies in his affinity with cold and the ability to survive even the most extreme cold)
background: Nitrogen started life in an average family of 5 (people, not kids) and went through school and college without any problems, upon finishing college, Nitrogen went to University, where he did his end study about the effects of super-cooling on living tissue.

Continueing with this research, Nitrogen perfected a way to completely nullify tissue damage during cryo-freezing, however before he was able to test his methods fully and thus make money on it, his funders cut the project and thus prematurely ended everything Nitrogen worked for. Deciding at that point desperates measures where required, Nitrogen tested his method on himself.

Something however went quite wrong, because while Nitrogen was super-cooled and should have been in deep cryo-stasis, instead he became a living piece of ice, blood still runs through his veins but it is no longer normal blood. Nitrogen himself has since disappeared and begun creating a volcanic bomb, which while it seems a rather weird method for a super-cooled figure to work, Nitrogen will set off volcanoes in a specific sequence, moving Earth orbit away from the sun and thus reducing temperatures.

[anarcharnate]

"Very interesting... well, if you could indicate your respective marks, gentlemen?"
*handing out sheets of paper with little tally charts drawn on in biro from his podium, Count Von Disasterstein regards you all with a questioning eye*
"And no cheating!"

-x-X-x-X-x

Now is the time to vote on your first assignment. Be fair, but because this is for a mad science doctorate, you can mark yourself, too. Your next assignment wil be posted this time tomorrow
If you want to post "behind the scenes" machinations, as well, feel free

[Flaag]

Marks:
Me:Name: 3
Originality/coolness: 5
Background:4

Hawk: Name: 5
Originality/coolness: 3
Background:3

FJ: Name: 5
Originality/coolness: 5
Background: non-existant at this time, 0 unless provided by 22:00 GMT

[Hawk101]

I chose not to mark myself

Flaag
Name: 3
Originality/coolness: 4 ( uber-original)
Background:5

FJ
Name: 5
Originality/coolness: 3 ( uber-cool but it has been done)
Background: N/A

[flapjack]

Hawk:
name: 4
originality: 4
background: 2

Flaag:
name: 3
originality: 5
background: 3

Hahaha, I made my background as well now

[Flaag]

yeh, but an hour and a half too late for me to bother marking it

[anarcharnate]

Hmmm... well i don't mind factoring slight laziness into the voting, although as no-one else took the opportunity to vote for themselves, i'm going to ignore your personal votes Flaag (sorry!)
Scores stand at:
The Camel - 23
"Hardboiled" Lorenton - 21
Nitrogen - 23
(I think- no promises on my maths)

-x-X-x-X-x-

"What a unique group of students. But, as you are all aware, a mad scientist is only as good as those he brutally crushes under his despotic heel. So, tell me of your respective nemeses..."
*he stands back, looking expectant, his eyes swimming like a pair of tropical fish behind his over-sized glasses*

-x-X-x-X-x-

That's right, the pesky superheroes who always ruin your fiendishly perfected plans. Using the same criteria as before describe the hero you most commonly find yourself fighting against; it may be a secret agent, vigilante, spurned lover or ex-assistant, but make them engaging, interesting and unique. They will be marked on the same criteria as your scientist.

[Hawk101]

Name: That Guy (Guy smith)
that guy is all that a superhero is:
Tight oh so tight trousers, a green cape (fluttering in the wind), cheesy one liners like- Its time to boil this egg, Huge upper body, and crap allias ( Guy smith ). Dustman by say superhero by night !

One day Guy Smith was hit by a dustruck AT MIDNIGHT and poisonous throw aways landed on his head, then somekind of complex unexplained supernatural change truned into THAT GUY (backing vocals THAT GUY).

That Guy can fly, WHOOSH, fight, POW, and dance to the chacha slide, FUNK,
This increadible mix of dancing and annoyance made him the perfect hero to take on the evil Hard Boiled BOOOO but nothing can possible loose against a dustman that has been hit by a truck YAY

"Please would you just stop with the cartoon noises" BOOOOOO

Coming soon Poof Lad, that adorable sidekick that does absolutly **** all !!

[Flaag]

Name: The Artful Jimmy

Description: Young Jimmy Jones was bitten by a radioactive Charles Dickens book, and was turned into the Artful Jimmy. His superpowers include boring people do death, and inducing sleep in even the most strong willed mind. Due to him having never read the book by which he was bitten, he assumes that the character he takes his name from is a painter, and as such has a costume with an infinite number of self portraits on (a self portrait of him in the costume on the costume, the costume in the portrait having the portrait on, ect ect ect)

[flapjack]

ooc/ I think the correct name for that is a 'fractal' /ooc

name: The Agent
description: The Agent works for the company that cut Nitrogen's research short and is mostly occupied with tracking Nitrogen down and capturing him, after blowing him up, throwing him into a volcano and attempting to trap him in a specially built prison (all of which obviously failed). The Agent has the same powers as the NSA and the CIA and thus always has a huge bunch of law enforcement guys following him around, he also has the power of bureaucrazy, which can open almost any door and permenantly disable all but the best henchmen. To assist his power of bureaucrazy, he also has a papergun, which fires infinite streams of forms that need to be filled out, stunning the target untill he has finished filling out all of the forms.

[anarcharnate]

"Ah, i'll never forget my many battles with Lord Arthur Botherington-Successville, back in the days when i was naught but a mildly insane research scientist... happy days. Except when that windmill caught fire- that was embarassing, to say the least... anyway, uh, marks please!"

[flapjack]

Hawk: 4
Flaag: 5

there we go, all marked and ready to go!

[Hawk101]

FJ: 5
Flaag: 5

Dayam , u guys good

[Flaag]

FJ: 5
Hawk:5
Me: (always worth a shot ) 5

[anarcharnate]

Scores stand at:
The Camel - 33
"Hardboiled" Lorenton - 30
Nitrogen - 33
Sorry for the slowness, uh, my dog ate my computer (or similar breathtakingly poor excuse).

-x-X-x-X-x-

"It seems that you're somewhat disadvantaged in this neck-and-neck race, Lorenton..."
*guffawing obsecenely at his atrocious joke, the Count shuffles your mark papers and tries to control himself*
"Right, anyway... this is all very good so far, but now there is a more concrete task ahead of you. I would like to know about your top-super-secret secret bases (TSSSB). That's right, a description of its locale, its contents, any unique and exciting features- you can even provide a layout map if you want! I do like maps..."

-x-X-x-X-x-

This task is much like the rest, although providing a description of your secret base rather than an individual. I was serious about the maps, althouh they're not compulsory obv. Try to relate the place to your schtick.
The marking criteria are:
Location - A cool location makes a cool base; simple as that. Be it a volcano basin, a dinosaur filled tropical island or a City penthouse, your location defines the rest of your base's features.
Utility - Would this base actually be practical? This might seem like a boring aspect to consider, but it makes the base far more coherent if it has a structure defined by necessity- and that shows in the overall consideration. You don't need to do complete troop rosters or store itineraries, but consider where you get your money from and therefore how much you could afford for a secret base, where you keep the giant robot suits, and where your mutant minions get their lunch.
Extras - The really fun bit; those little quirks that turn a complex into a truly Top-Super-Secret Secret Base. The Alligator Pool. The Mutant Fighting Arena. The Cavern of Reflections. All come under the title "Extras", and all get you extra marks.

[Flaag]

Location: in the middle of the Gobi Dessert (a kind of muffin by the most recent estimates)
Utility: Under the cover of a new anti-pollution scheme, the base is built under a 5 square km area of solar panels, which supply much of Chinas energy (unless my geography is wrong) at quate a large price. The base consists of a huge underground network of tunnels, shafts and pits, including a space shuttle launch station, an underground airfield, a team of alien hockey playing ducks (who feed the camels), a herd of feral camels to which intruders will be fed. However the main part of the base is a large research center, which uses explorers as test subjects for mutating experiments. Those that survive are then used for sport.
Defences: To take care of any aircraft, the solar panels can be moved to focus the suns energy ont the plane, causing it to explode, a simialr measure can be used against intruders on the ground, reflecting the energy off the large radar dish used ofr communications. Also the outer perimeter can be electrified for 1 km outside the base.

/ooc/ i'll go prod Hawk a bit /ooc/