A visitor to Freegate around that time, Evan Wheelwich and Stanley Sten Stonell from Slay Every Dragon and Slay Every Dragon: E-Grade for example, would have and in fact did find less furor than expected from a game getting a spinoff. Only when invited to relax in the elemental lounges did they see the signs of activity hidden from the players. Lists, charts, and polls covered the walls of the Inferno gym, the Storm conservatory, and the Quake greenhouse. Not the Flood pool, though. The papers kept soaking right through. Luau Lua was looking into purchasing a whiteboard, but skeptics wondered how much that would help.

Though veteran predictors knew no roster was a respectable roster without a few unconventional picks, many of the same names recurred over a large number of lists. “Let's see. Minsie S. Triddel, Rylweadh, Aerywe Beruvo, Gaelvry likewise, Rhizi Nanem, Theena, Serdon Miloz, Tiboleus Axander, Figronderous Furs, Jonathan Brightwater, Beryllia Ven, Quircy Rau, Havamal, Count Poitnem, Lynissia, Hilliarde Feablas, Neur, Sibyl. Yeah dude, I'm definitely going to need a complete set of photos from every angle of about half of those slayers before I can weigh in on how plausible this one is, and I think we all know which half,” Evan Wheelwich said after examining a sheet covered with a series of of names and percentages that some guesser or other had taped over a motivational poster in the gym.

“Come on, Evan.”

“Oh, sorry, right, officers, not slayers. Got it. Officers. Oh, hey, thanks!” Evan took the set of albums Kullervo offered him. “Man, these are thorough. And labeled. These yours?”

Kullervo nodded.

“Truly excellent taste, dude.”

“And composition,” Stanley added, looking over Evan's narrow shoulders since that sort of thing seemed not to be the sort of faux pas in CoH society that he had imagined.

Kullervo blushed and snorted at the same time. The legendary blort. “It's nothing,” he said. “Had trouble remembering names.”

“Yeah, CoH is so stacked it's ridiculous.” Evan opened another album. “So is Rhizi Nanem.” The other two nodded. “Oh, wow. Wait, I thought of what I wanted to say. Yeah, I was surprised that this place isn't all about the spinoff, but I was coming from a scenario where our lineup's so small that even I get to be in the new game. All I do in it is just sit there in the shop where you upgrade weapons and armor, but that's more than enough responsibility for me, dude. I'm just happy to be remembered, you know?”

“Quite so.” Castru hopped off a treadmill and joined the visitors. “Some of our likeliest candidates have it the worst, you know. They're huddling in their blankets, figuratively for the most part, afraid to become excited about the next announcement. It's a blessing of a sort for me to have no chance whatsoever; with disappointment so entirely alien to me, nothing can lessen my fun. Is that a Darlotte Glofal cheesecake collection? Goodness. Gracious.”

“Yeah. Woof.” Evan shook all up and down his body as if he had just stepped out of the Flood pool during piranha hour. “I'll cool off with some light reading, like another list. Nonneros, Kint, Domingo, Serdon. Better look those up. Just put those on top, yeah, that's it, thanks man.” Kullervo dropped four new albums on top of the pile. “Hey! These are all dudes!”

“Did somebody really predict that?” Stanley Sten Stonell examined the paper himself, as if he ever had reason to doubt Evan Wheelwich's interpretation of events. “Huh, weird.”

“We have grooms coming up. A spinoff or two doesn't change that,” Castru informed the two visitors. “It's an exciting event. Not many chances for alts for us gentlemen, to be honest.”

“I never said you were lying, dude. Good luck to you though. Uh, do you have a chance at that one?”

“None to speak of.”

“That's harsh.” Evan balanced the stack of albums on his knee, handed the top four back to Kullervo, and flipped through the rest with his free hand. “Who's this, Neur? Maybe her pictures'll get rid of that shadow on your heart.”

“I feel better already,” Castru said.

“Ohhhhhh, holy moley. I just can't stop thinking about the Command fighting game. Oh yeah, this is TrupinL, Like and subscribe, who cares. You know who I am and that I love fighting games. You might not know I've played some Command in my time, so hearing that announcement was a dream come true. Now I made a video about that, and I'll put it in the description if you didn't see it. Headphone warning on that one, by the way. And I know there hasn't been anything more to talk about. I know all that, but I can't help myself. So let's talk about the roster.”

Art of the officers flashed on the screen as he spoke, some official and some fanart of the sort less likely to get you in trouble than the kind you normally searched out. “So Cadmos is the main guy. He's you. Next. OK, here are some heroes I think are guaranteed. Anstralia's just gotta be in it. She's one of the first heroes you get. I used her up until, dang, until I got Serdon I think. He might be in it, Serdon Miloz I mean. Ostros will be in for sure too, he's the other starter along with the knight guy. The knight might make it in, but I dunno. I hope not, because Cadmos already has a sword. Now here's one who absolutely, 100% will be in it. Beryllia Ven. It was weird how long it was before we could roll for her, but you'd better believe we all did when the time came. Now this might be a long shot, but I hope this girl gets in. Her name's Theena, and this here is Skaya from the same part of the story as her, and she's a maid so you know how that goes. I like Theena more, but probably Skaya will make it in. Not that I'd be mad about it, 'cause she's like a fist mage. She might be fun to play.

“I haven't been keeping up too good with the game, though this announcement got me running back, and I want y'all to look at this. This is Lynissia. She came after I left. I don't know how popular she is, and I don't care. She has to be in.”

Serenity settled over Commandment of Hero after the bridal event had ended and a new National Hunt came to impose upon the talents of Eclipses and Infernos who were at least Liya-high on the tier lists. Officers did what they could with what they had while they waited for a second Ersatz Struggle announcement or, even better, the reveal of another spinoff in a different genre for double speculation. “First we would have to decide how much overlap to allow the casts of the two games. Two-point-five times speculation? I'm not interested in remote hypotheticals like that, though.”

“Heads up!” Heartful Azalea tossed the fightstick to, or rather at, Jonathan Brightwater, who was not too occupied with his thoughts to react. He let it smack him in the forehead and drop down into his waiting hands, a professional maneuver conceivable only by the most veteran of mercenaries. Azalea collapsed into a deep-cushioned seat, one of the many in the unused Freegate room interested officers had converted into their fighting game laboratory for the furthering of roster prediction research. They hoped to capitalize that as soon as they could work some vowels in there. FGLFTFORPR? That was the sound players made when they recruited yet another Uamna, not a proper name for a scientific enterprise.

A lot of officer-hours went into the vintage P**********s, S*****s, D********s, and other consoles in that room, but more went into schemes to stop Dosellian Urapta and Coremel from standing behind them during research sessions, making little noises and comments all the while. When Darlotte Glofal shrieked, “Mumbling about 'hit confirms' and such nonsense is not the slightest bit helpful, Lord Dosellian Urapta!” and activated her personal skill usable only in social situations, Tasgan Flounce, they did cut it out. For about twenty minutes. Soon, however, they returned much like a lapsed player whose bitter memories of substandard gear upgrades fade over time and are replaced by dreams of perfect rolls, like a photorealistic portrait of a clown painted over with a stick figure holding a bag that has a bunch of dollar signs drawn on it.

The only certain method of relief the researchers discovered was to engage the backseaters in conversation. While Jonathan Brightwater tested himself against Nautical Wedding Manyana, her brother, Crusher Domingo, was on chat duty. “I won't relate all the things I've seen out on the sea. Even less the ones I haven't seen but only felt. We don't have the time, and I'm not convinced I have the courage on dry land. Rest easy knowing you'll never hear half of what's out there. All that's to say I'm not unused to doings that have their own lingo for them.”

“You should know there's nothing a hobbyist likes more than to spread strange terminology around. We should all be Santas, I've always thought.” Dosellian Urapta waved at Waltzing Rudolph and Dasher Christmas over at the 3** I********** M**********, the ultimate in CD-ROM-based entertainment platforms. “They've beaten me to it, but I will attempt the role if you're after a particular present.”