Galactic Empire vs. The Nobility (VHD)

The Galactic Empire vs. The Nobility

Special Round: Vader and Sidious vs. "D"

It had started about one standard galactic month ago. Upon the fringes of Hutt Space, worlds began to secede from the control of the Cartel. No. That's not correct. They did not secede. They were taken. Worlds devastated, entire populations either dead or having simply vanished without a trace. None knew who were responsible. It was believed to be some new rival group. Pirates or criminals seeking to challenge the Hutt Cartels. That thought proved to be wrong. Very, very, Wrong.

At first, the Empire did not take notice. It was a Hutt problem we thought. Though the Emperor was disturbed by this, for reasons he did not explain, even he felt that it was no threat to the Empire. His mind quickly changed when the territory of darkened system had expanded into the Empire's Domain. No longer was it a Hutt concern. It was an enemy force that was challenging the Empire. We speculated this had to be a new group of Rebels that were trying to gain resources and support to war with the Empire. Once more, we were wrong. We were so wrong.

I was just one of many officers aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer. One month after these strange events began, the Empire received its first true glimpse of our enemy. We were patrolling, on the look out for this unknown power that had dared to challenge the Empire. And what we saw moving towards us from the darkness between the stars, both filled my mind with wonder...and my heart with palpable fear. What we saw...were Castles. No, they were ships. Ships whose forms resembled the archaic structure of castles. They were beautiful and terrifying to behold all at once.

Our command centers issued orders across all holofrequencies and other forms of communication to halt and surrender. At the same time, scans were underway, trying to determine the make of these strange ships. Their composition, armaments and defenses. What we received...was nothing. No data. No response. Our ships scanners were being blocked by a method we could not discern. We knew a battle was about to take place. All of us ready at our stations. All fears seemed to melt away as we fell into routine. The ships grew closer, more distinct. Still no response. All our weapons were ready. Every turbolaser ready, every TIE Fighter and Bomber in our hangers, fueled and armed. Their pilots just itching to speed out into the void to destroy our enemies. And then, we noticed something...odd.

One of our crewmen magnified an image of one of the strange Castle Ships. It was a section of windows, the panes transparent. What we saw made us all freeze and our eyes widen with both surprise and awe. What we saw...was dancing. People, men and women in elegant gowns, beautiful dresses that flowed like microsilk threads in a gentle wind. Their skin nigh-translucent, paraffin pale, and beautiful beyond anything we had ever seen. Yet they seemed human, despite the odd paleness of their skin, and the plump, pouty blood red lips of many of the females among them. They looked like humans. Yet also they seemed as if from another world altogether. Separate from us. Something...more. Something...otherworldly.

We were all freed of this mysterious spell all at once, when something so simple yet so amazingly terrifying hit us with the force of an exploding star. Each and everyone of those beings possessing of a supernatural beauty turned. They looked not outside of the window into the depths of space, to the stars radiating lightyears away, or the swirls of rings surrounding the gas giants within the system we were in. No. They were looking at us. Squarely. With eyes that gave off a blood light. And they smiled. And with those smiles...were fangs.

What happened next, I do not know. But if this recording has been received, then it means that I am dead. That we are all dead. The Patrolling Fleet has been wiped out. There are no survivors. This is the only warning I could manage to send before the end. Too the Moffs. To Lord Vader. To the Emperor. Please. Do not underestimate them. They are powerful. They possess technology and weapons we have not seen before. And they view us as we view lesser alien species. So listen and listen well, listen-listen ---

- Listen and understand. We are the Nobility. We have come from beyond this galaxy that you know. You, mortals, have but one choice before us. Surrender and kneel. Or Die.-

Round 1: leaning towards the Nobility
Bonus Round: Sidious and Vader
http://www.comicvine.com/profile/silver2467/blog/emperor-palpatinedarth-sidious-respect-thread/63101/
http://lounge.moviecodec.com/vs-general/ultimate-darth-vader-respect-thread-revamped-and-better-than-ever-102461/
http://www.comicvine.com/profile/silver2467/blog/star-wars-speed-feats/76872/
http://vampirehunterd.wikia.com/wiki/D#Powers_and_Abilities
http://vampirehunterd.wikia.com/wiki/Vampire
http://www.narutoforums.com/showthread.php?t=835379

D takes anyone in melee

Example of Nobility's tech.

Sol Gun. VHD5

A gun that amplifies the power of natural light into a fifty-million degree beam that can go through three feet of titanium in a thousandth of a second. Unlike laser blasters or photon cannons, which are rendered useless if their ultracompact nuclear power sources are destroyed, the sol gun only needs a piece of resilient photosensitive film to keep it running indefinitely. Thirty minutes of exposure on a sunny day or six hours on a rainy one is enough to keep the beam charged for over two hundred hours.

Spacial Distortion, aka Void Space.

VHD4

Another slice of insanity spawned by land disputes between Nobles, it's one of the many offensive and defensive devices Nobles set along the perimiter of the land they have claimed as their own. The device can pack infinite into a finite area to swallow any invaders. Although the name sounds vaguely like Rei-Ginsei's power, the concept is completely different.

Essentially anything that enters this Void Space ceases to exist in the universe.

Big Bang Accelerator.

VHD11-12

One of the enormous machines stored in the warehouse on Thornton Street in the village of Krauhausen. The machine was constructed by Fisher Lagoon, who was taught the theory behind it by the Sacred Ancestor. It's a collection of countless rails surrounding a black mountain of a base, the path of its rails reminiscent of a diagram of an atom. Material launched down these rails which curve in arcs and angles determined by unknown physical laws, will exceed the speed of light once in flight, and on striking its target, impedes the very flow of time. Stripped of its time-impeding apparatus, the machine is a catastrophic death bringer to be used solely for destruction. The Accelerator is used against Vince when the Destroyer inhabits him, but it has no effect and winds up being destroyed instead.

The Destroyer

VHD11-12.

The being that's been locked away for mollennia in the sealed sanctum far behind the devastated factory in the Talos arsenal. The place gives off such an eerie aura that even D can't ignore it. According to Baron Byron Balzas, development of this weapon took centuries, with every attempt in the first two stages of development dying off, but the third attempt finally achieving success. The instant it was completed, the one in charge gave the order that everything was to be destroyed. The Destroyer puts D and the baron to sleep and lures Miska Dake to come free him. He's housed in a ten-foot tall male body and wears a warrior's helm and breastplate, greaves, and gauntlets, all made of synthetic leather.

He has a rough countenance, and is nose and lips look like halfhearted additions to his face. In the giant's right hand is a fifteen-foot-long throwing spear, while a longsword dangles from his right hip. He fires a powerful crimson "death light" from his eyes and can unleash a bluish light that destroys a spherical area when it strikes. While the giants form falls to the blue-light attacks of the ghost knights, the actual Destroyer has transferred over to Miska. At Jean de Darriole's lab, part of the Destroyer is put into Vince, while the rest remains in the Noblewoman.

Death Light

The beams of light that shoot from the eyes of the Destroyer when it first appears at the Talos arsenal. Using this attack, the Destroyer blows away the ghost knights like so much mist and buckles the fifty-thousand-ton metal alloy doors to the arsenal.

The Destroyer is considered a universe-level threat by the Nobility. It was placed in a sealed dimension for millennia comprised of an infinitely layered battlefield meant to keep the Destroyer occupied for all eternity. Within the span of a few thousand years, every layer of that dimension had been completely annihilated before awaiting the means to free itself from captivity.

The Nobility are masters of Space. Not just space flight, but the concept of Space itself. The easiest way for some to understand this would be like...think of the TARDIS from Doctor Who and just remove time travel. They can travel wherever they wish to go by folding space, which includes teleportation, and can create dimensions and pocket spaces for anything that they wish. From recreation, to gardens, prisons, areas of research, vacation manors, and even battlefields that were created and used when Nobles fought with each other.

A Nobles coffin can contain an entire field of flowers and possess a fully stocked bar filled with all manner of games for entertainment that the Noble could ever wish for in using this space-manipulating technology. It can also be used to get rid of unwanted guests and trap people for eternity in a sealed dimension where space has been looped on itself.

Sealed Dimension

VHD2

A section of space that's been sealed off, so that whoever's inside can keep traveling forever, but always remain in the same spot. While it can be broken into from the outside, there's never been a case of anyone breaking out from inside. When D breaks out from the sealed dimension, it causes a variety of incidents across time and space. In 1945, five Avenger torpedo bombers disappear in the Bermuda Triangle. In 1872, the crew of the ocean liner Marie Celeste vanish while sailing the Atlantic bound for Genoa, Ital. In 1888, Jack the Ripper disappears from the East End Slums of foggy London. In 1901, Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain both run into Marie Antionette during a visit to the Palace of Versailles in Paris. In 3036, an alpha-class black hole suddenly disappears an instant after swallowing Pluto. In 4018, human artist Vernon Berry witnesses a certain Noble attacking a beautiful woman in her bedroom in London, then goes to paint what is hailed as the greatest portrait of the Sacred Ancestor. The moral of the story is: friends don't let friends break out of sealed dimensions.

@xlab3000: @nerx:

Don't you find it odd(ly funny) that all those that'd fought so...religiously for SW against a nigh-invulnerable super-powered alien, have sudden gone silently into hiding when a technologically superior race was sent forth?

@reikai: yeah , fans fear the unknown

@nerx: Which is rather silly since the VHD novels started in the 80's and we got both the VHD animated movies in the 90's, the novels becoming a cult classic. I just don't think the know much of any vampire that doesn't sparkle.

@reikai:

@nerx:

I think we did that dance before. But it pretty much says what there is to know. Most fans tend to stick to their specific genre or series and either don't know about much else or just don't care to know. I'd rather know a little about a lot of fiction, than know a lot of one thing.

Still you'd think someone would come to the defense of SW. Though making that intro was still worth it. Maybe they just ran when they saw the Op was more than three lines long.

@reikai:

Most fans tend to stick to their specific genre or series and either don't know about much else or just don't care to know. I'd rather know a little about a lot of fiction, than know a lot of one thing.

that is the right attitude to have a fiction enthusiast

Still you'd think someone would come to the defense of SW. Though making that intro was still worth it. Maybe they just ran when they saw the Op was more than three lines long.

http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/joke-battle-nude-fight-397425/ - same thing happened here, although most attention was from homophobes and less batfans... which is weird

@nerx: People have been poking fun at the Bat being gay for...ever. I can't see that battle as a joke though. More like trying to put down who is actually a better fighter without their tools, gadgets and protective wear. So it's actually interesting to see who would beat the other when under specific rules to follow.

Still, can't wait to see what becomes of the VHD animated series and live action movie that's supposedly being scripted. And wonder if anyone will try and defend the Empire here. I'd like to enjoy beating them before Disney tears their guts out and retcons the entirety of the EU.

Excellent setup.

@reikai:

More like trying to put down who is actually a better fighter without their tools, gadgets and protective wear. So it's actually interesting to see who would beat the other when under specific rules to follow

This, if only you were debating back then at the time, but people seem to be focused too much on the stereotypes.

Disney tears their guts out and retcons the entirety of the EU.

the death star will have a hidden mickey

@nerx said:

If they really wanted to do the whole stereotype thing, it'd be Adam West Batman & Robin vs. The Ambiguously Gay Duo. Nvm that ancient Greek Wrestling was done in the nude. Gladiators would be in nothing and would fight in the sands with nothing but their bare hands and bodies. There wasn't anything suggestive or sexual about it. It was about fighting with only what the gods had given you.

Besides most seem to forget about what the Greek Gods were actually like. People play and enjoy the God of War games, but then forget their mythos in that Zeus was a sick hyper bastard who'd nail anything that he could. He didn't care if it was male female or even human.

It's not really hidden...

@reikai:

If they really wanted to do the whole stereotype thing, it'd be Adam West Batman & Robin vs. The Ambiguously Gay Duo. Nvm that ancient Greek Wrestling was done in the nude.Gladiators would be in nothing and would fight in the sands with nothing but their bare hands and bodies. There wasn't anything suggestive or sexual about it. It was about fighting with only what the gods had given you.

Just insecure people bawwing, heck even the honorable samurais accept the G lifestyle as most of them back then place men in a higher social standing than woman. Spartans, arguably one of the most badass also go with G lifestyle. Everybody was Bi back in the day. Just fighting, for fighting's sake.

Besides most seem to forget about what the Greek Gods were actually like.but then forget their mythos in that Zeus was a sick hyper bastard who'd nail anything that he could. He didn't care if it was male female or even human.

Hence why Zeus is one of my favorite deities, he's a dick and he uses his pecker to bang anything he wants. Since he is a god and they are powerless.

@nerx: There are still people who don't want to see Same Gender Romances in the "Star Wars The Old Republic" MMO, even though BioWare has said it would be an in-game feature at some point.

I mean c'mon, it's BioWare. They let you have your man fantasies with Shepard in Mass Effect, but you don't wanna see it in Star Wars? News flash, there was already a novel that had two gay Mandalorians who were married. It doesn't hurt anything with the stories, it's just there. Besides, the whole thing in the game is optional. Never have to choose the [Flirt] reply with someone of the same gender...unless you want to.

Hence why Zeus is one of my favorite deities, he's a dick and he uses his pecker to bang anything he wants. Since he is a god and they are powerless.

Well at least until one of his kids comes along and smacks him around for cheating. Still, in other news, in the 2nd VHD Novel "Raiser of Gales", there was a painting depicting an event involving the Sacred Ancestor. It was him having 'relations' with women...ten million of them. At the same time.

@reikai: ten million

damn

must been tentacles errywhere

@nerx: Well he can appear as a formless mass of darkness and consciousness. But that tends to kill people by just passing over them. So from the imagery he'd actually divided himself into multiple bodies that were interconnected by his darkness which technically kept him as a single entity.

Think like Alucard spawning his army from his coffin, except this was all way before Hellsing, and Sans didn't eat souls for this stuff. But basically he was using a form of omnipresence to take them all at once. Which isn't that big a deal for a guy who tweaks around in the 4th-dimension.

ROFL!

@the_legendary_supersaiyan_hulk: feed it twilight and let it read a big mac

@nerx:

Well, here's a lil look at a few of the Nobles who've crept up over the years.

Dr. Gretchen: Over 6000yrs old. A Noble scientist specializing in poisons and toxins, the greatest expert in that field in all of the Nobility's history. Her body itself is filled with various poisons and toxins, which have killed even the life-stealing properties of Lady Ann's deadly flowers. Gretchen has numerous uses for her poisons, priding on intelligence over brute strength. Anything from paralysis to mind control, boils and bloating, even madness driving toxins and solutions that cause the infected to rip all the flesh from their bodies until naught but a skeleton remains. Dr. Gretchen has used various delivery systems for her poisons, from physical contact, to injection via needles and even air-borne via incense or particles. She even has poisons that cripple anyone with pain who has killing intent towards her. Essentially, she's an evil cold-hearted bitch.

Roland, the Duke of Xanon: A tall, strongly buil man with a beer gut and balding. Roland prides himself on using an exo-skeleton in battle, knocking him up to 10ft tall. He possesses immense physical strength and speed, the armor built with anti-gravity controls, making him weightless and can shoot lasers from its eyes. He possesses fast enough reaction to dodge said lasers as well and did so when D deflected them back at Roland, just barely managing to graze the top of his head. The exo-skeleton is comprised of dupronium steel, which is hundreds of times stronger than steel and was treated with a special element that allows Roland to will the armor stronger, making it even more durable and resistant. Roland's prime ability as a Noble is the power to create spears made of ions and suspended molecules, stated as being 5000x stronger than dupronium steel and was capable of stopping D's blade. He can materialize as many of these spears as he wants, anywhere from 3ft to 20ft in length. They can also materialize in any location within his field of view, having impaled D through the chest with one such spear by having it created instantaneously inside the Vampire Hunter's body, basically 'growing' out of him and occupying the same place in space.

Grand Duke Mehmet: A Noble specializing in the control of insects, especially Space Eaters; bugs that, in exchange for devouring their own bodies, create an opening in space that acts like a portable black hole and sucks in anything around it to a random location, ranging from the core of the earth to anywhere in the infinite depths of space. They can also be used like teleporters if a 2nd Space Eater opens up a hole at the exact moment the first closes, then everything that was sucked in will be expelled in that specific location. Mehmet also uses a mechanical doppelganger of himself, standing 12ft tall and looks identical to him, as well as mimicing his every movement fluidly. He can control this mechanical puppet from long distance and it possesses physical strength 300x greater than its creator. (base strength of most Nobility is around Class 3 or higher). This puppet is special in that so long as Mehmet is alive, the mecha can't be destroyed either. It will self-repair and regenerate itself.

That was three who appeared in the VHD Novel "Dark Road". Plenty of others out there. And if memory serves, there were over a hundred-million Lesser Nobles, one-thousand'ish Greater Nobles, and above them were the Five Kings who were the strongest of all, save for the Sacred Ancestor himself whom was essentially a god.

@nerx: So how do you think they'd take to a more direct confrontation? I mean like certain Sith against specific Nobles as opposed to total warfare and let their personal abilities and equipment tell the tale. Though generally when I do make a VHD battle I tend to leave the Sans out of it. He tends to be too big a player.

@reikai: blitzing is a big issue

@nerx: For which side? Not all Nobles are on D's level, to be sure. We don't see much of the Lesser Nobility fighting, mainly because "D" tends to deal with bigger fish. The Marcus clan bragged about killing more than 300 Nobles in Vol 3 "Demon Deathchase", and given how things went with Mayerling, it's a safe bet that all the ones they contended with were all Lesser Nobles and not any of the Greater Nobility.

Though we do know that pretty much all Nobility are at least in the super-sonic ranges. Heck even Lady Ann is effortlessly dodging Mach 4 metal stakes being shot at her, and she has the form of a 10yr old girl. Wouldn't think she's tough until she sticks you with a flower that sucks all the moisture from your body and turns you into a mummy. Would never realize she was actually more than a thousand years old.

@reikai: take the weakest of both sides

@nerx: That's difficult. We never really see much of the Lesser Nobles who aren't always near to or doing something for a member of the Greater Nobility. And there are some Nobles whom "D" has said had intentionally changed parts of their bodies to make it harder to do them harm.

There was a "Lady in Waiting" in Vol 10 "Dark Nocturne", who got shot through the chest with a spear and it just passed right through her. Apparently couldn't be hurt at all until "D" struck'er and left her weakened. And then, other than Nobles, are their creations. One of Vlad Balazas' servants was pretty damn powerful. Enough to fire 100billion volts of lightning at "D".

@reikai: try mid level

@nerx: It's hard to gauge them since most of the Nobles in the Novels all end up fighting "D", nearly all of them really not wanting to after being struck with his Aura. Just a slight run down of them has Magnus Lee and his forcefield plus a near-unbreakable cape he controls with his mind that can grab people with the flexibility of spider silk and exert enough pressure to pulp them.

Then we have his daughter, Larmica, who had managed to catch a needle at her thrown by "D", and launch it back at him, which he then caught. The velocity at which they were throwing was incredible as in the span of a single instant, a foot long wooden needle had been reduced to less than half its length because it burned down like a candle from the sheer speed at which it was traveling.

2nd Volume we have a couple of Psuedo-Nobles that were created by Sans during part of his experiments to create a more stable lifeform of Noble that could stand in the day. All of them were immune to sunlight, couldn't be drowned with water, repelled by garlic nor killed by staking through the heart. One could deliver powerful psychic attacks that killed people with illusions, while another could turn himself into a ball of pure energy and strike with enough force to shatter hundreds of tons of solid stone. Their only drawback was that their molecular structure was unstable and they could die at any moment with their bodies breaking down and turning to mush.

Mayerling in Vol3 with his talons and cape which you could hit with a high powered laser for hours and barely cut a millimeter into them. List of names just goes on and most of them have some different abilities. They all share relatively the same physical stats, but the Greater Nobility tend to have different special powers more closely related to their families. They could cut/bend space, control beasts/monsters/animals, manipulate the weather, shoot fire, use psionics, manipulate shadows, become intangible, turn to mist or bats, and all other kinds of craziness. Some abilities to which gained through tech they carry with them or integrated into their bodies.

Count Broujou, General Gaskell, and Lawrence Valcua are like in the Top 10 most powerful of the Greater Nobility, with Valcua sitting at the top of that list. Broujou was a big guy. And I mean Big. 10ft tall, a hulk of muscle, and so controlled he sat still for five-thousand years without moving a hair or a nerve. When "D" found him, Broujou was covered under solid inches of dust that'd gathered on top of him, and he has a spear so ridiculously tough it took several hundred billion tons of pressure to permanently bend it out of shape.

"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"

Here's another little tidbit

VHD Vol10 "Dark Nocturne" pg47

Opening a flap on his uniform, Bijima pulled out a square lump. There was a slim silver tube stuck in it. A fuse -- and the block was plastic explosives. Judging by the pinkish color, it was an incendiary charge. While the fifty-thousand-degree blast might not kill true Nobles, it would be far more than their servants could withstand.

A 50k degree explosion won't even kill a Noble. Might char'em up a bit if not protected, but that'd all heal over in seconds anyway. Could anyone say the same for all the Troopers and Imperial Guardsman?