Paragon City Loses It's Ascendant

I sit in silence throughout last night and today. It feels like a little void in not just the role play community but the virtueverse itself. It doesn't feel like it would happen. Good men shouldn't have to be taken so soon and way before their prime. Paragon City lost its most dedicated protector today... and this whole paragraph might not make sense to anyone here. So I'll start from the beginning.

Tre Chipman, also known as Ascendant, had passed away. He was a huge player on the City of Heroes scene and inspired hundreds of players on the virtue server. His role play and story telling inspired plenty and I'm convinced he was responsible of many others making heroes or villains just because of his character. I know that he, along with Xanatos and Karnal Sin, they inspired me when I was in the game as Luficia.

I am, or used to, play City of Heroes. It was the game that lit my love for comic books and super heroes ablaze and shown me just how much I love the genre. I remember how I won a 20 dollar gift card for Best Buy and went to get the MMO all the way back in 2004. The idea of creating a super hero seemed like fun and I wanted to see everything. It was the perfect game as I was readying for college.  I played for a while on the Guardian server but then I transferred over to Virtue because I had heard of a growing role playing community.

I'll never regret that decision. I'll remember when I ran into Ascendant for the very first time. I was with my boyfriend at the time and we were flying to one of the train stations... and right at that phone booth? There was Ascendant, just role playing out the phone call to Saul. I was on voice chat with him at the time and reading it had us laughing out loud. I laughed so hard, I was in tears. I complimented him and he was just someone you don't forget. He was always around and I really enjoyed role playing with him as Luficia.

He was just as kind of a man as he was the character. He always spoke of optimism no matter what seemed to be going wrong. Tre carried as much hope in life as his character did too. He was also a lot of fun on his villain, Doctor Crom, too. I'll never forget when he hired one villain(whom I call Malechavas these days on Skype) to beat Luficia down and taken Seiken from her. He wanted to study him and Luficia was mortified. Life got in the way and I had to leave the game unexpectedly and without notice. For a whole year, Doctor Crom, Malechavas and Fearghas(before he became the developer Doctor Aeon) brought him to life without me and had him on adventures for a whole year.

One of the last role plays I had with him as Luficia, he gave my character a single bullet to kill him. Should the one side of his character ever go awry, she could take the shot. It would have tried to snuff out hope from Ascendant, no matter what. I have the actual quote from his character's speech and it speaks just as much about his character as it does about Tre too.

"These are the places that forge us into better people. These are the trials that temper better spirits. Besides, we stand as a precipice of both opportunity and challenge, and we are duty bound--not just to ourselves, but to the public--to meet both. This is the time and place we earn the mantle of hero, rather than have it bestowed upon us. This is when we show that this is not a city of people content to live in fear and hate, but instead prove, once and for all, that this is a City of Heroes!"

It was a promise Luficia would have done so. Even if she would have been mortified to take the life of one of the very people she admired and aspired to be, she would've done it. One more line of his that stands out even more now then ever.

"Because I look at you and I have hope."

That was not just Ascendant but Tre Chipman as well. He was a man who held hope to a higher standard and he never gave up. He stood for City of Heroes and he always spoke about being a hero beyond the game. His act of charity on his character's behalf speaks out for the kind of character he really was. He truly was a hero, both in Paragon City and outside of it.

Xanatos, Ascendant, and Luficia. I always pictured the trio in an epic shot as Xanatos and Ascendant were her very idols. She wanted to stand up and continue their values and fight for her city as much as they did. Now, it just feels like a void. Rest in peace, Tre, and know that somewhere, out there, you did inspire me and not just through the game we played on. I know Xanatos and Sorah spoke on their pages with a promise to tell his one last story. May they bring you the honor you deserve. You've been taken way too soon from us but your in a much better place.

Paragon City will live on, one way or another. Thank you for inspiring all of us.