Information on Tiger Squad, China's official superteam?

tigerofcachtice

Hi guys, so I was reading the load screens and one mentioned China's official superteam was named the Tiger Squad. Anyone know more about them please? Thanks.

flyingfinn

'Tiger Squad, the: The national superhero team of China. With nearly 60 members, it's by far the largest superhero team in the world. Members include GraniteMan, Gossamer Storm, Red Bullet, Daughter of the Moon, Summer Cloud, Heart of the People, Technocrat, Phantom Soldier, Swarmlord, and Winter Dragon.'
http://www.herogames.com/championsEntities.htm

'The Tiger Squad is China's official Superhero Team. This is probably the most anticipated addition to the Champions Universe, and I think they should have gotten a sourcebook all on their own. This mega-group compromises over forty superhumans, though only five of the most prominent are detailed here. The group is not a group of villains, but because they are attached to a government often at odds with the western world they frequently show up as adversaries. Some of the group are true Superheroes, some are pro-democracy, and some are actual villains with government sanction. Because China requires all it's known superhumans to join the group an extremely eclectic mix of heroes with differing views are forced together. Even with that the majority of them are out to help the people of China as much as any other national group wants to help their own country. Graniteman is really a supervillain, a sadistic bully who joined the Tiger Squad because it was better than jail and so far enjoys government sanctioned mayhem. Red Bullet is a good mirror for nationalist PCs, his primary motivation is his love for his country and belief in the government despite its short comings. Summer Cloud is the groups most outspoken Pro-Democracy member, and the most likely to get into trouble and flee to the United States, a good hook to get a group involved in a political supers campaign. Technocrat is less outspoken Pro-Democracy advocate, and a good hook for gadgeteer PCs. Winter Dragon is an outspoken supporter of the government and often comes to odds with Summer Cloud, and many outside groups, he is a Chinese Patriot NPC.'
http://www.herogames.com/forums/forum/hero-games/hero-games-product-line/64765-villains-vandals-and-vermin

tigerofcachtice

Outstanding, thanks for that, Flynn. That actually sounds very reasonable.

Like the Red Banner Cult just looks/sounds ridiculous to me, but these descriptions come off as authentic.

My favourite part is how much room one there is for personal interpretation, as it's such a huge group.

bulgarex

The Cult of the Red Banner suffers a bit IMHO from not yet having been greatly detailed in Champions PnP lore. Cryptic fleshed it out as they chose for the game, and sadly (again IMHO) their choices have often veered toward the comical and silly.

In that lore their patron deity, the Death Dragon, is not ridiculous and truly something to fear, notwithstanding the feeble avatar of it that we encounter in CO.

tigerofcachtice

Thanks for that further insight, it's actually interesting to me, the creative direction.

Also, DISCLAIMER - As a Chinese guy, I DON'T find the Cult of the Red Banner offensive. I find it tacky.

But many things in CO are tacky or campy or both. I reckoned this was Big Trouble in Little China-like.

What's the alternative? Well, just 1 idea, make them Hong Kong cinema 2-pistol John Woo-style instead.

(In other words, still playing to popular media stereotypes, but at least it's more up to date.)

But I think this happens in all comic things. Like in The Wolverine, Japan was more like a tacky Japanland.

Thus, what you guys told me, it really gave me a deeper appreciation of the Champions setting.

meedacthunist

Yes. Champions Universe is actually well made.
Failure that you can see in CO is Cryptic doing. They simply suck at writing and adaptation. Or care.

bulgarex

tigerofcachtice wrote: »

Thanks for that further insight, it's actually interesting to me, the creative direction.

Also, DISCLAIMER - As a Chinese guy, I DON'T find the Cult of the Red Banner offensive. I find it tacky.

But many things in CO are tacky or campy or both. I reckoned this was Big Trouble in Little China-like.

What's the alternative? Well, just 1 idea, make them Hong Kong cinema 2-pistol John Woo-style instead.

(In other words, still playing to popular media stereotypes, but at least it's more up to date.)

But I think this happens in all comic things. Like in The Wolverine, Japan was more like a tacky Japanland.

Thus, what you guys told me, it really gave me a deeper appreciation of the Champions setting.

Before economic limitations caused staff downsizing, Hero Games was planning a PnP Champions source book called The Martial World, which would have detailed that subculture within the Champions Universe, including the Cult of the Red Banner.

There's actually quite a bit of super activitiy in CU China. Besides the Tiger Squad, a few independent superheroes operate there, including the martial artist White Monkey, the teleporter Whispering Dragon, Lucky Bandit, with low-level superhuman strength and speed, and the therianthrope known as Tiger-Man. Unfortunately these heroes are considered criminals by the Chinese government for being unregistered and operating without official sanction. Lucky Bandit was actually captured, tried, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Besides the Cult of the Red Banner, the greatest superhuman menace based in China is Dr. Yin Wu, an immortal Taoist sorceror and one of the most powerful master villains in the world. Other villains include Blue-Faced Demon, a martial artist with superhuman ch'i powers; a pain-inducing psychic called Ying; Li Chun the Destroyer, a human sorceror possessed by a powerful demon; and a mysterious powered-armor would-be conqueror calling himself the Overlord, dubbed by some the "Chinese Dr. Destroyer."

The Tibetan Himalayas are also the site of two hidden cities. Shamballah is the repository of great and enlightened mystic martial arts knowledge and training. Its opposite is Agharti, whose powerful martial-arts masters are devoted to evil, but magically trapped within their city.

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bulgarex

You're correct, gradii. The Death Dragon is able to drain the power of its opponents and add it to its own, so the more beings it fights, the more strength it has to draw to itself.

The Tournament of the Dragon is a great and ancient martial arts competition, held every sixty years, to choose the mightiest warrior in the world as champion to face the Death Dragon in personal combat. If the champion wins, the Death Dragon is bound from entering the material world for another six decades (and the home nation of the champion becomes pre-eminent on Earth over that period.) If he/she loses, the Death Dragon is free to wreak havoc across the world, until the next tournament can be held. The Cult of the Red Banner seeks to free the Death Dragon from its bonds permanently.

BTW according to Champions lore, the last victor in the Tournament was one James Harmon I, of the United States.

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shadowzero66

bulgarex wrote: »

The Tournament of the Dragon is a great and ancient martial arts competition, held every sixty years, to choose the mightiest warrior in the world as champion to face the Death Dragon in personal combat. If the champion wins, the Death Dragon is bound from entering the material world for another six decades (and the home nation of the champion becomes pre-eminent on Earth over that period.) If he/she loses, the Death Dragon is free to wreak havoc across the world, until the next tournament can be held. The Cult of the Red Banner seeks to free the Death Dragon from its bonds permanently.

BTW according to Champions lore, the last victor in the Tournament was one James Harmon I, of the United States.

Kinda sad that the Death Dragon doesn't get better treatment in CO. It seems to be higher up than Therakiel on the mystic food chain, and yet all we get of it is as a forgettable boss at the end of the Westside arc. If I recall correctly, the Death Dragon is also the creator of the first vampire.

bulgarex

The Death Dragon (Sze Long in Chinese), as terrible as it is, is merely one avatar of The Dragon, the primordial source of all the most evil impulses in the human psyche. The Dragon exists within the collective subconsciousness of all mankind. In fact it's imprisoned there, its near-limitless power constrained, although when and how that happened is unknown (or if anyone knows they're not talking). From there it prompts humans to act on their basest, most corrupt urges.

On the Astral Plane the Dragon manifests as a dragon a thousand miles long, wrapped in chains. Its back is embedded into the underside of the dimension of Faerie, and its throat leads to the Netherworld. It strives to free itself and return to the physical world to spread chaos and destruction. If it should ever do so, the psychic shock would drive the entire human race insane.

The Dragon has been known as many terrifying draconian/ophidian monsters to cultures around the world throughout history. Tiamat, Apep, Vritra, Typhon, Ahriman, Jormundgandr, Satan... it's all of them and more. There are several cults on Champions Earth besides the Red Banner which worship the Dragon under one or another of these guises. They may also attempt to recover or create mystic artifacts or living sacrifices (or volunteers) as physical vessels for a portion of the Dragon's spirit, granting it freedom to exercise a fraction of its full power on Earth (which could potentially rival the mightiest supervillains on the planet, depending on the capacity of the vessel).

tigerofcachtice

There's no part of this that is not awesome.

Defender's great grandpa is a Mortal Combat Champion? Wow.

The Dragon does sound truly awesome, like how every culture has a serpent as a symbol of evil, like something deep inside every person's psyche that just knows this. This is so cool.

Thanks for sharing. It's such a nice little story that ties in with all the other stories we all know.

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bricedaury

Have they ever made any mention of the Dragon in relation to Nama? One's Dragon, the other's Snake, maybe their prehistories tie together somehow?

meedacthunist

bricedaury wrote: »

Have they ever made any mention of the Dragon in relation to Nama? One's Dragon, the other's Snake, maybe their prehistories tie together somehow?

They aren't related at all.

Nama is very old snake who pretends to be god to mortals, he's also a very powerful wizard. He's native Earth entity. He's neither good or evil, just egoistic and self-centered.

The Dragon isn't actual dragon at all. He is a kind of satanic entity, a personification of all evil known in all Earth religions. He exists in the dimension of Nether.

As big jerk as Nama is, he actually likes Earth inhabitable and intact, so he'd be rather hostile to the Dragon.

bricedaury

I should have asked my question in two parts, sorry for the confusion.

What I had meant to ask was:
A)Are these two beings somehow related (No, as you've already pointed out) and
B)Have these two immortal beings that have somewhat contradictory goals- Dragon to kill all of Humanity and Nama to play with us for his own amusement, it seems- have they had any previous run-ins? Have they ever set their forces upon one another or otherwise interacted in a way that might have effected mankind?

bulgarex

The simple answer is that, in the history of the Champions Universe so far revealed, there's no mention of these two entities nor their followers directly conflicting. That's not to say it couldn't have happened at some time during their long existence. Nama doesn't want humanity destroyed, and anything that could do that would threaten him as well. Moreover, while the Dragon itself is trapped, under certain circumstances it can manifest avatars on Earth with a fraction of its near-limitless power, which would cause much death and destruction unless stopped.

See upthread for more about what the Dragon is, and this post for a summary of Nama's origin.