Are the fights in the Final Battle at MKA be according to the video or do you have any other ideas planned?

http://mortalkombat.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Armageddon

If you assume MK characters can survive being stabbed in the stomach, since it's not really a vital organ killshot...then I don't think anybody actually dies in the opening cutscene, so it kinda doesn't matter.

My thinking, I guess, is that the opening happens, then there's some more fighting while Taven arrives at the top of the pyramid and kills Blaze and such...then more fighting will happen after Blaze is dead, and that is when characters will die and stuff that actually matters will occur..

Is all of the MK2 storyline in your fanfiction sorted out or are there some difficult plot points that are difficult to explain and keep consistent with future sequels?

Inspiring thoughts all over this thread, I recently reread your MK1 script and felt like a fan again.


- On the subject of Shao Kahn's helmet, the skull could be how Shao Kahn got the Shokan to obey him. The skull being the Leader long ago of the Shokan that Shao Kahn kills to gain their respect. The Shokan having a primitive sense of honor watched the fight and supported Kahn afterwards as he eventually barbarically wore the skull as a remembrance.

Also I'm not sure if this known but who/what exactly are the Shadow Priests? Shang Tsung becomes their leader before MK3 having a Brotherhood of Shadow like eye design, but I'm unclear where the Shadow Priests themselves are from. Are they Brotherhood of Shadow members? Shang Tsung's claimed souls? or something else?


(BTW this is -Brad- to anyone that recognizes my former username)

The plot's all pretty much sorted out in my notes, I just haven't had the time to figure out the exact order they happen in, and sit down and write out the outline.



I dunno, that implies Kahn needs their favor, when the reality is the opposite. The Shokan constantly have to keep Kahn happy and prove their worth to him, or else he'll let the Centaurs or Tarkatans overrun their shit.



As I've always understood it, the Shadow Priests are a sorcerers' guild or sect of holy men of an Outworld religion that worships or serves Kahn himself.

It is kinda strange that they have "Shadow" in their name but aren't at all related to the Brotherhood, which is based in the Netherealm and worships Shinnok.

As for the facepaint Shang wears in MK3, my storyline explanation for it will be that he needs to adorn himself like a Brotherhood member as part of the ritual that resurrects Sindel, since the resurrection is a Shinnok thing.

Could you possibly consider this Sareena's alternative costume once you get to MK4? http://www.deviantart.com/art/Sareena-Redesigned-257775410

Well...Sareena's appearance in 4 will be as an NPC, while she's being tortured in the Netherealm, before she learns how to make herself look human without Quan Chi's magic, so, it'll be her demon form with no alt costume.

I guess I could give her a different alt in Armageddon since I'll be using both of her costumes from that game in Deadly Alliance...but honestly, I don't see Sareena being the type to wear pants.

Interesting about the Shadow Priest, I figured I knew a lot about the story til I thought "Wait who the hell are these guys?"

I can't see their backstory being important to the story but it's curious to think about.

Shao Kahn's past is pretty much a negative version of Raiden so perhaps the holy men in the Shadow Priests originated from Shao Kahn's protector of Outworld god days?

Will Onaga's motivations for his plans to reunite the Kamidogu and bring order to all the realms and his origins be explored in your story? Is there there going to be some instances where Onaga is talking to his newly recruited "comrades" about his plans? There's also one thing I don't get: if Onaga planned for someone to bring all the Kamidogu together, influence Reptile to be a host for his spirit, get in the body, reveal his deception to Shujinko, and get the last Kamidogu from Quan Chi, then how come it took him more than 30 FUCKING seconds to put them together?! Way beyond that time frame his enemies could have gathered enough time and opportunity to find a solution to kill Onaga and stop his evil plans which did happen. You'd think Onaga would know which Kamidogu goes with which when he would put them together BEFORE he initiated his "master scheme."

Also, is each Kamidogu somehow some ancient artifact or has some significance importance in the MK universe? Why are there seven? Why is one Kamidogu in that particular realm rather than that other realm? It seems the canon talks about them all the time, but it never EXPLAINS what the Kamidogu actually are.

I think that's the most logical guess, yeah.

I also like to believe that the reason they float in the Tower/Evil Monastery stage is because that building is their actual headquarters. You may have noticed that in my MK1 outline, I actually give a shit about the geographical locations of the stages in relation to each other? Well I'm going to keep that up. For example, in MK2, Shang's Flesh Pits will be located in the Evil Monastery basement.

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Now, I'm going to answer some of krajax's questions out of order since they sort of answer each other or build on each other better that way...

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Sure it does.

Do you remember the story from Deception of how the MK universe was created?

Before there were realms, there was nothing but "The One Being" and the Elder Gods, living in an empty void. The Elder Gods were basically TOB's slaves, so they decided to kill him.

The Kamidogu used to be a single magical weapon the Elder Gods forged to slay the One Being with.

And when the One Being "died" (he's not really dead, more like in a coma), it basically caused the Big Bang. The realms are made of pieces of his body and such.

The explosive force of the One Being's death broke the Kamidogu into 6 pieces, which were lost, scattered to six different realms more or less at random.

Anyway, the Elder Gods can't find the Kamidogus, they're not actually as all-seeing as you'd think. And they worry about mortals getting their hands on them and accidentally bringing TOB back, so they appoint a champion to travel the realms, find them, gather them up in the Nexus, and send them back to the Elders...which is what Shujinko thought he was, but the real one was that "Monster" guy who attacks Shujinko at one point. And after that, it was Scorpion.



There's really just six. Shinnok's amulet is not technically an official Kamidogu. It's just sort of LIKE one, because it's ALSO a weapon created by an Elder God.

And because the amulet contains all of Shinnok's Elder God powers, whoever has the amulet can manipulate the Kamidogus the way an Elder God could.



Well besides the fact that when you have all six, you become invincible?

No, I don't think by themselves any of them actually do anything or grant any individual powers. They only seem to be useful when all 6 are together.

That's one of the things that makes Shinnok's Amulet different from them. The Amulet can give whoever has it a whole host of really broken powers: First of all, you get all the powers Shinnok had when he was an Elder God...which is obviously why he wants it back so bad. You ALSO get complete control over the elements of Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire. And finally, it's the key to activate a bunch of portals Shinnok hid in different realms.

Keep in mind, however, that Quan Chi had the amulet for like 12 years and never learned how to USE many of those powers.

I don't think the Kamidogus have any real connection or power over the realms they're in either, other than superficially. Like...I know they sort of look like logos for each realm, like how the Earthrealm one looks like a planet with a moon, and the Netherealm one looks like a demon's head or pentagram, and the Edenia one is that yellow yin-yang painted on the castle wall and so on...but I'm not actually sure that means anything for them. If you destroy the Edenia Kamidogu, it doesn't damage Edenia or something. And holding it won't make you the King of Edenia with the power to control all Edenians or something.

Maybe the yellow yin-yang became Edenia's logo because someone important found the Kamidogu once and decided "this will be the icon of our realm!" Or maybe since the Kamidogu's true form is a giant ball of energy, when it broke into pieces and those pieces landed in the realms, they took forms native to each realm, like how the gods' true forms are energy but they have to turn into humans to interact with the mortals.

Does that make sense? The whole thing with gods is that they're basically metaphors made real, y'know? It can be very esoteric and philosophical talking about their true natures, so the same would be true of their weapons, wouldn't it?



He doesn't actually know HOW to fuse them into one. He never did. All he knows is that it can be done and there's some ancient texts hidden in Edenia that explain how to do it.

The game isn't really clear on whether or not he and Tanya actually went to Edenia and found the texts before Shujinko and Nightwolf defeated him.

It's possible they did, but then came back to Onaga's castle because joining the 6 into 1 requires some complicated magic ritual that would take a long time, and Shujinko got to him before he could finish it.



Onaga's actual origin is too much of a mystery, I wouldn't know where to start explaining, like, what race he's supposed to be, how he became a "Dragon King", etc. I will, however, find time to address what his rule was like as Outworld's first emperor, WHY Shao Kahn assassinated him, and why he wants to gather the Kamidogu and rule the universe.



Well apparently Tanya was in charge of helping him find those ancient texts I just mentioned, so...I gotta assume he shared the plan with her so she'd know what she's looking for.

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Finally, I'd like to apologize to everybody for the fact that the Shao Kahn drawing is going to be late after I went and said I'd have him done in the first half of February like a jackass.

I intended to work on him last week because I had several days in a row off from work...but my computer chose the perfect fucking time to break down. Basically, the graphics card has gone bad due to age. So bad that the computer will only boot in Safe Mode and I've got these blue-tinted streaks all over my screen. So...I can still use the damn thing for internet, but using Photoshop is pretty much out 'cause I can barely see shit.

Anyway, I ordered a new computer, should be here this week, so nobody panic or anything...but, y'know, it'll be a couple weeks before I find the time to get Kahn done.

What kind of plans do you have for Scorpion? Do you plan on making him a good guy? A protector of Sub-Zero? I took your advice on reading the MK2 comic on kamidogu.com and I found this image very inspiring and extremely interesting :



I find this grouping of characters awesome.

Well Scorpion joining the group that early is kinda a continuity error in the comic. The game says he doesn't realize Sub isn't Bi-Han until they're already in Outworld and he sees him spare an opponent's life during the tournament.

I'm going to play Scorpion pretty mysterious (at least, he'll be mysterious to the other characters, not the reader) and neutral in 2 because according to the game, when he spares Kuai, he doesn't actually tell him why he's doing it or that he's vowed to watch his back. He doesn't really join the good guys and fulfill the vow until during the invasion in 3.

I don’t know if you thought about this,but anyways...

In MK Deception,both Hotaru and Baraka ally with Onaga,even though Tarkatans and Seido Guards clashed in Lei Chen assault? Gonna address that in some way?

Another thing is,couple of pages ago you discussed how you were unsure if to bring Kahn back for Deception or not,depending who you want Kintaro to align with. Well,I always liked Havik’s ending in MK Deception,and several endings including Kabal and Kobra’s hint that Havik INDEED recruited Black Dragon to get Onaga’s heart and resurrect Kahn and seed chaos once more in Outworld.

I feel that you should address this story arc in SOME form in your universe. My suggestion is to still have this storyline. The only difference I would have is resurrect not Shao Kahn (I still think he is pointless in Deception,you can have Shinnok resurrect him in Armageddon and retake his Fortress with Reiko and Kintaro since Goro would be a good guy in your take), but Kintaro. And not from Onaga’s heart, but rather from some artifact maybe that he and Black Dragon must find or something (didn’t come up with details yet,need to think how to tie it up with other characters story arcs during Deception).

And have Havik brainwash Kintaro to make Shokans join Onaga since he is far superior and better Emperor than Kahn. Once Kintaro joined Onaga’s ranks,Havik might manipulate him into believing that Onaga preferred Hotaru and/or Baraka,which will create a rivalry between two (or three,depends on your take on Baraka/Hotaru relationship) and create CHAOS among Onaga’s people. Which benefits Havik,of course,since he sees Onaga as a threat.

To sum it up,Havik’s resurrection of Kintaro and creating disarray among Onaga’s ranks is part of his plans,because Onaga is all about order,which Havik hates. Of course, Kintaro is not a figure of Kahn’s caliber,but at least you would address that Havik’s Deception storyline in SOME form or fashion and shows what a manipulator and chaos lover he is. Plus it gives depth to all the characters involved,I would think.

Another thing that I would like to know: how the fuck Reptile ended up in Red Dragon HQ in MK Armageddon demanding Caro to open a portal for him? Going to erase that one out completely or what?

And remember how Daegon defied ONE TIME Shinnok when the Elder God thought he chose the wrong brother after Taven left and was misinformed about Daegon being in Edenia?

Well,basically,I had an idea that since Reptile has no story bio for MK Armageddon,I would propose that since Onaga was banished to Hell and Reptile was free from possession and unconscious for a while (that was a mighty creature possessing him,he might have needed some time to recharge lol) like in Sindel’s MK Deception ending, he wakes up from his slumber and faces Shinnok. Since Reptile is submissive creature and always needs a master like MKDA proposed, he is ordered by Shinnok to spy on Red Dragon and report to him any suspicious activity. He is perfect for the job since he can turn invisible.

Well,after Taven fucks things up and Daegon flees the scene,Reptile wants to warn his master so he approaches Caro to transport him to Hell to inform Shinnok of what happened in the Charred Mountain. And THIS IS where Taven finds him...

This makes perfect sense because after Quan Chi sets Shinnok up in MK4, the Elder God doesn’t trust his henchmen so easily anymore,so he is a little bit paranoid you might say. Using Reptile for spy info I think is a good idea.

And that Reptile and Shinnok conversation might have been one of the first visions Johnny Cage started having,which the actor initially dismisses as some "weird dream".

And you might think why no one notices or maybe gets rid of Reptile’s body once Onaga is defeated? Well,let’s just say Reptile was SO OUT that everyone assumed he was dead and NO ONE really bothered to check on him,which proves how lonely and unlikable creature Reptile is,lol.

Thoughts?

Well gee, I hadn't thought about it yet, but I suppose I'll have to have some animosity there.

Maybe Hotaru is okay with it because he feels Onaga will bring law and order to the Tarkatan savages?



Yeah...it is and will continue to be canon that Havik and the Black Dragons ally with Shujinko's party when they attack Onaga's fortress, because Havik wants to wait till Onaga is dead, then have Kabal, Kobra, and Kira attack the good guys while he sneaks into Onaga's throne and steals something.

The problem is, obviously, since I intend to retcon away Onaga's ability to raise the dead, that means his heart can't be what Havik wants.

And I kinda don't want Outworld to have magical items of resurrection just lying around because then it would raise the question "if there's ways to bring people back without making deals with Shinnok, then how come Kahn didn't find out about and use those instead when he raised Sindel?"

I think the MK universe would just plain work better if there was a hard stance that the ONLY people who can raise the dead are the rulers of Heaven and Hell. (Note that Raiden and Quan being able to make zombies doesn't count as true resurrection).

Perhaps I could have Havik's goal be Shinnok's Amulet...since the games kinda just forgot Onaga had it when he died and put it back on Quan Chi's belt in Armageddon with no explanation how he got it back?

I suppose the amulet could be a resurrection tool since it has the power of an Elder God. And it would kinda explain why Havik shows up in Shinnok's Spire in Armageddon trying to start some kind of rebellion (even though that Havik was just an illusion to test Taven, Shinnok knowing about Havik implies it's something that has happened before or could happen.)



I kinda have an explanation for that one. I'm not sure how Reptile met the Red Dragons quite yet, but I figure the reason he joined them has gotta be because he thinks their experiments in making lizard-people can bring back the Raptors.

Being told to go there by Shinnok would be logical though since pretty much all the bad guys are serving Shinnok in MKA. So maybe a combination of spying and "I'm just gonna pretend to do what he wants until I get what I want."

Well, Hotaru might be indifferent towards Tarkatans and Baraka,but I am not sure it is other way around,since the last time they clashed it was Baraka who lost. Especially Baraka being this unintelligent and savage creature...I dunno.

Good point regarding Havik and Shinnok's Amulet. Why I haven't thought of that lol? Your reasoning that only Heaven and Hell rulers can raise dead is a good point also (which happens to be Elder Gods,even though Shinnok is Fallen,but he is powerful enough with the Amulet). The only problem is how the Amulet ends up from Havik's hands to Quan Chi's in Armageddon? I know Shinnok gave it to Quan,but how did he intercept it from Havik? I doubt he willingly gave it to Shinnok lol.

And you forgot to tell who you want Havik to resurrect with his Amulet.Kintaro or someone else you had in mind? If Havik gets the Amulet around the end of Deception,then there is no point in resurrecting the Tigrar Shokan.

About that Havik,Sheeva and Kintaro fighting Taven sequence. I know those were illusions,but what if there was a reason why these three in particular were picked?

Also, what exactly happens to Tanya in Deception? I suppose the part where she is helping Onaga merge the Kamidogu and translating ancient Edenian is canon,but is Jade's ending canon? Or maybe she is part of those who give Shinnok their power,but after the ordeal,Jade confronts Tanya or something?

Well what I'm thinking is, the reason Shinnok got the idea to use an illusion of Havik to fight Taven because Havik had earlier already tried that actual thing, came down to Netherealm with the amulet, tried to overthrow the local regime, and actually got defeated and the amulet ended up back in Shinnok and Quan's hands as a result.

Fair point, I'm gonna have to think about that one.
The important thing is that WHEN Kintaro comes back, his whole goal is "convince the Shokans Goro was weak to make peace with Kitana and the Centaurs, that's why he died, and they should let him lead because he wants to side with a strong villain again". Whether that villain should be Onaga while he's still alive, or Kahn after Onaga is defeated when Kahn shows back up to take his fortress back...that's a question that kinda needs to be answered first.
Particularly because the most important military moment involving Onaga's troops in Deception is when they fight Bo' Rai Cho's Edenian army. And the Edenians WIN that battle 'cause Liu's Ghost helps them out. So if the Shokan had been there, and lost too, it'd make Kintaro's whole argument against fighting alongside Edenia look stupid, wouldn't it?

Well I'm gonna have to come up with a reason why Jade takes hunting her down so personally, like they have some kind of rivalry or something that was never mentioned before...also, the fact that she has no MKA bio OR appearances in Konquest make it pretty hard to guess what her role in the plot would have been.
I think my approach will be "Tanya escapes from Onaga's castle when the heroes show up" since she's slippery and good at surviving like that. And at the end of the day, I sum her character up as "Quan Chi's apprentice", so I imagine when he comes back to life and helps Shinnok round up the badguys for the big pyramid war business, she's gonna return to his side.

Can the "dark energy" emitted from Onaga after Raiden's suicide be cured from the Thunder God? Also, if it all comes down to Taven challenging Dark Raiden in mortal combat in the final chapter of your future post-Armageddon trilogy, will be much more dramatic and different than all of the other final boss confrontations in MK past? Like possibly the final battle will be at the ruins of Shang Tsung's island from where the first Mortal Kombat chapter began to give homage to the entire series since Earthrealm is again on the fringe along with the threat of merging ALL realms including Taven's Edenia (the One Being's plan) except Earth is captive to Dark Raiden, not being threatened to be merged like in the first chapter by Outworld so Taven is technically fighting for the freedom of ALL realms. Also, maybe Shinnok, Daegon, Fujin, Kung Lao or possibly Bo'Rai Cho (I don't know has a secret weapon to kill a god that can be given to Taven) will be involved? I know I'm thinking WAY too far in the future, but it's just a few thoughts. I guess we'll be given some unexpected surprises for the final ending of the MK fan-fiction?

It came from Shang and Quan Chi, not Onaga. When the three of them died at the same time, their souls got a little entangled on the way to the afterlife and some of their personalities rubbed off on him, so when he was reincarnated, as gods do when they die, he came back wrong.

He can't really be "cured" of it, it's not like a mind control spell was cast on him, it's the way he is now. He's not really all that different is the funny thing, it's almost like the Deadly Alliance rubbing off on him didn't really need to be written in and you could say his personality change was completely natural. He's still all about protecting the Earth, he's just now convinced that the people of Earth are either useless at helping (because the Deadly Alliance killed or beat all his warriors) or outright making things worse (because of Shujinko) so he's gotta take matters in his own hands instead of giving the mortals advice and relying on them.



Well...I don't want to spoil anything, and I'm not saying Taven will be the main hero at the end either, but I suppose it's safe to say that whoever's in that final battle, the stakes will be the highest they've ever been because his motivation, unlike every other villain to date, isn't to conquer and merge realms, it's to protect Earthrealm by destroying any realm that could threaten it. Also, not every hero necessarily knows he's "gone bad", so some of them are on his side.

How will the final fights between Liu Kang and Shao Kahn play out in MK2 and MK3? Does Kang just get lucky in beating him or does he have dreams again to help fight him like he did of Kung Lao's ancestor fighting Goro in the first chapter?

Ah, crazy stuff about Raiden being the final boss in your post-Armageddon works. The way it will play out, it just completes the arc to his character.

That is to say, I'm very curious as to which characters you plan to live on at very end, who will die and stay dead, etc. I know you've given a couple names, so for now I'll just ask this: are there any characters whose allignments you plan to develop/switch? As if clues from their bios in the Deception/Armageddon era hinted that maybe there was potential for some change, i.e. a "good guy" turning bad, a "bad guy" turning good.. or turning crazy and ending up on neither side? Will you take advantage of anything or do you see nothing in anyone's bio that leads to further character development?




You know, it took me like a year to understand what people saw in Sub-Zero/Sareena when I'd first heard of it. I've warmed up to the idea considerably, although you will take it slow, yes? While I see Sareena admiring him from afar, I don't take Kuai as the type to fall in love easily/express his feelings easily, regardless if being the more merciful Sub-Zero brother.

Also, I could've sworn you answered this either in this thread or your other thread, but how does Kenshi have a role in MK3? Why was he unable to attend the MK1 tourney? And will you foreshadow any interactions between him and Ermac in MK3, to show that one day in Deadly Alliance Kenshi will basically free him; will he have any encounters with Shang on the barren Earthrealm or what?

I'm still looking forward to this but I haven't been following the thread because of spoilers. I'd rather get the full effect when Razor finishes.

The subplot about Liu having prophetic dreams will continue, but they'll be less about Great Kung Lao and more about answering the question of where do his powers come from/unlocking his ability to turn into a dragon.

The fight in MK2 isn't against the real Shao Kahn, it's against a decoy Kahn made so he could leave the tournament to oversee Sindel's resurrection, that's why it turns to stone and explodes when it's defeated.

In the MK3 fight, Liu and Kung Lao take Kahn on at the same time. Kung is wounded so bad he appears to be dying, which sends Liu into a rage that makes him fight harder and use his full power and such.

Also, Kahn loses a big chunk of his soul-power while they're fighting, 'cause the other heroes are simultaneously doing other things like freeing Sindel, smashing the Edenia-merger orb, and destroying the Soul Chamber.



Hmm...I can think of one off the top of my head...but do I want to spoil it? It's probably easy enough someone will guess it right away, but I'll just say two words: "Special Forces".



Very slow. I don't see Kuai being comfortable expressing himself either. Plus, for most of my trilogy, Sareena has her own little subplot adventure she'll be off on while the rest of the Lin Kuei is doing different things.


Well he has powers and got them before MK3, so there's no reason he wouldn't be one of Raiden's chosen to be protected from the soul drain.
Mainly I'm going to have him meet and help Sonya and Jax with their stuff, to set up why they invite him to join the OIA. His hope is to find Shang Tsung and get his revenge, of course, but the sorcerer's a slippery fellow.

I'm going with he didn't know when the tournament was or how to get to there because Shujinko bailed on him.

They'll most definitely meet and/or fight each other.

Do you know who you'll have the younger Sub-Zero spare? Just a simple NPC or an actual character?

It'll be Reptile who Kuai spares.

Yeah, it's Reptile, I've mentioned it before.