Mark Chance
Boingy! Boingy!
The Rise of Dr. Mobius
The history of modern Egypt starts because of a short Corsican. The arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt on 2 July 1798 initiated a new phase in Egypt's history and in the history of the Middle East, shocking the Egyptians and the Ottoman Turks out of their complacency. The Egyptians were hitherto totally uninformed about European culture and technical achievements. Murad Bey, an Egyptian Mamluk chieftain, sent a poorly equipped and poorly trained force to meet the Napoleonic army of 40,000. After being roundly defeated, he left Cairo in haste and ordered the city to be burnt.
Napoleon brought with him a number of scientists who made a complete encyclopedic survey of Egypt, known as "Description de l'Egypte". The expedition contributed significantly to the study of ancient Egyptian history through the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the consequent deciphering of Hieroglyphics.
The Napoleonic invasion caused a drastic revision in the thinking of Egyptian and Ottoman rulers, who finally understood the industrial and technical superiority of the West, and some of its implications. French technology, military techniques and culture were adopted as models, and French instructors were imported to train modern armies. However, the reform was not thorough. Weapons were imported, but the means of achieving an independent industrial capability were not imported. The printing press was not introduced until very late and literacy was low. It was inevitable that these poor societies, including Egypt, would bankrupt themselves trying to pay for the imported Western industrial goods.
After the French were defeated by the British, Mohamad Ali, who was an officer in the Ottoman Army, rose to power with the support of the Egyptian people. His rule extended from 1805 to 1849 was an eventful period in Egypt's modern history. He is regarded as the father of modern Egypt who set the country on the march towards modernization. He was an efficient ruler and was able to supplant the Ottoman Turks in Palestine, and withdrew only when forced to do so by the British.
Khedive Ismail, a member of Mohamad Ali's dynasty, rose to power in 1863. If Mohamad Ali had started the process of modernization, it was Ismail who completed it. He had boundless ambitions to bring Egypt up to the same level of culture, civilization and development which was enjoyed by most nations of Europe. It was during his reign, in 1869, that the modern Suez Canal was inaugurated. The Canal was built by a British and French company, and was vital to the maintenance of the British Empire in India, as well as to Western trade.
Unfortunately, Ismail and other Khedives overspent, and Egypt very nearly went bankrupt. They were forced to allow Great Britain and France an increasing role in their government in order to protect the investments made by those countries in Egypt. At the same time, the Khedives requested the intervention of the British, or were induced to request their intervention, to protect their rule in the south of Egypt and Sudan. The British were extremely unpopular because they banned the lucrative slave trade.
A very gifted renegade and religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed-Ibn-el-Sayed, proclaimed himself to be the Mahdi, or the Twelfth Caliph, and routed Egyptian and British forces sent to put down his rebellion. In 1884, after a long siege, he defeated and beheaded General Charles George Gordon, who had been sent with an inadequate force of 7,500 to oversee the safe evacuation of British troops. The Mahdi took sick the following year and disappeared. It was rumored he had died. Lord Herbert Kitchener successfully pacified the Sudan in the Mahdi's absence.
Egypt became a British protectorate until 1922, with British troops guarding the Suez canal and other vital British interest. Mustafa Kamel, Sa'ad Zaghloul, Mustafa El Nahas and many others were prominent figures who strove to achieve two national objectives: independence and constitutional reform. Civil unrest spread, and the British mobilized to put down the impending rebellion. Then, out of the desert, came Mohammed Ahmed-Ibn-el-Sayed at the head of an army of nomads augmented by squads of seemingly supernatural creatures.
Calling himself Dr. Mobius, armed with amazing weird science weapons, Mohammed Ahmed-Ibn-el-Sayed first crushed Egypt's infant independence movement by killing its three most prominent leaders. The rebels scattered, leaderless and overwhelmed. Many of them joined forces with Dr. Mobius, who quickly cemented his hold on Cairo. It was then that Dr. Mobius unleashed his most powerful weapon: the Omegatron.
No one (at least outside Dr. Mobius's inner circle) knows the origin or full power of the Omegatron. Its capabilities are staggering. Dr. Mobius's first use of the Omegatron closed Egypt's borders with mighty "reality storms" that bend natural laws with unpredictable results. Protected by these unnatural phenomena, Dr. Mobius consolidated his power in Egypt, remaking the land into a mixture of the ancient and the modern, with himself as the peerless Pharaoh ruling it all.
Two years ago, in 1927, Dr. Mobius's armies invaded the surrounding African lands and even pushed eastward across the Red Sea. With each conquest, the radius of the reality storms expanded. Egypt's power-mad Pharaoh now sets his sights on all of North Africa. Within Egypt itself, Dr. Mobius's lackeys ensure their master's iron fist is felt everywhere.
Is there no one who can stand up to Dr. Mobius?
The Heroes
Well, sort of. For decades, there have been mystery men, costumed adventurers who fought the good fight against the forces of injustice. Cairo, Egypt, is no different, although the surviving mystery men there must move with caution.
If you're one of the four players in this game, you get to be one of Egypt's surviving mystery men. Of course, you're no match for Dr. Mobius. The best you can do so far is to be a thorn in less formidable sides while hoping against hope for a chance to put an end to Dr. Mobius's tyranny.
Heroes start at PL 6 with 105 pp using 2E Mutants and Masterminds and Ultimate Power. Here are some additional rules:
1. Ability scores bought above 26 must be acquired via Enhanced Traits.
2. No more than a +2/-2 trade-off. Base Attack and Defense must be at least +2 each.
3. Although weird science devices are possible, they are the technological exceptions. Otherwise, Dr. Mobius's Egypt has your typical late 1920s tech. Thus, for example, no Computers.
4. You can have one Luck rank per Fortune feat (up to 3 ranks maximum). Otherwise, you're limited to one rank of Luck.
5. Let's take it easy on the Minions and Sidekicks. I don't want to have to worry about oodles of Minions, et cetera.
6. Powers other than Enhanced Traits or those that are clearly not outside of human limits must have at least a -1 Flaw associated with them with no decrease in pp cost. The only exception is Devices. Devices can be bought as normal.
7. Drawbacks are complications. No extra pp for drawbacks.
8. Keep in mind that there are some types of heroes I just don't like. For example, I don't like Regenerating Feral Slashers or Reformed Demonic Avengers. Other concepts irritate me as well. I'll know them when I see them, and will let you know as well.
Player Roster
Giant Boy playing ?
Meteoric playing Re-Khenemetsi
jkason playing Fist of Khonshu
Merlin's Shadow playing ?
BTW, I really like this format for heroes.
The history of modern Egypt starts because of a short Corsican. The arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt on 2 July 1798 initiated a new phase in Egypt's history and in the history of the Middle East, shocking the Egyptians and the Ottoman Turks out of their complacency. The Egyptians were hitherto totally uninformed about European culture and technical achievements. Murad Bey, an Egyptian Mamluk chieftain, sent a poorly equipped and poorly trained force to meet the Napoleonic army of 40,000. After being roundly defeated, he left Cairo in haste and ordered the city to be burnt.
Napoleon brought with him a number of scientists who made a complete encyclopedic survey of Egypt, known as "Description de l'Egypte". The expedition contributed significantly to the study of ancient Egyptian history through the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the consequent deciphering of Hieroglyphics.
The Napoleonic invasion caused a drastic revision in the thinking of Egyptian and Ottoman rulers, who finally understood the industrial and technical superiority of the West, and some of its implications. French technology, military techniques and culture were adopted as models, and French instructors were imported to train modern armies. However, the reform was not thorough. Weapons were imported, but the means of achieving an independent industrial capability were not imported. The printing press was not introduced until very late and literacy was low. It was inevitable that these poor societies, including Egypt, would bankrupt themselves trying to pay for the imported Western industrial goods.
After the French were defeated by the British, Mohamad Ali, who was an officer in the Ottoman Army, rose to power with the support of the Egyptian people. His rule extended from 1805 to 1849 was an eventful period in Egypt's modern history. He is regarded as the father of modern Egypt who set the country on the march towards modernization. He was an efficient ruler and was able to supplant the Ottoman Turks in Palestine, and withdrew only when forced to do so by the British.
Khedive Ismail, a member of Mohamad Ali's dynasty, rose to power in 1863. If Mohamad Ali had started the process of modernization, it was Ismail who completed it. He had boundless ambitions to bring Egypt up to the same level of culture, civilization and development which was enjoyed by most nations of Europe. It was during his reign, in 1869, that the modern Suez Canal was inaugurated. The Canal was built by a British and French company, and was vital to the maintenance of the British Empire in India, as well as to Western trade.
Unfortunately, Ismail and other Khedives overspent, and Egypt very nearly went bankrupt. They were forced to allow Great Britain and France an increasing role in their government in order to protect the investments made by those countries in Egypt. At the same time, the Khedives requested the intervention of the British, or were induced to request their intervention, to protect their rule in the south of Egypt and Sudan. The British were extremely unpopular because they banned the lucrative slave trade.
A very gifted renegade and religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed-Ibn-el-Sayed, proclaimed himself to be the Mahdi, or the Twelfth Caliph, and routed Egyptian and British forces sent to put down his rebellion. In 1884, after a long siege, he defeated and beheaded General Charles George Gordon, who had been sent with an inadequate force of 7,500 to oversee the safe evacuation of British troops. The Mahdi took sick the following year and disappeared. It was rumored he had died. Lord Herbert Kitchener successfully pacified the Sudan in the Mahdi's absence.
Egypt became a British protectorate until 1922, with British troops guarding the Suez canal and other vital British interest. Mustafa Kamel, Sa'ad Zaghloul, Mustafa El Nahas and many others were prominent figures who strove to achieve two national objectives: independence and constitutional reform. Civil unrest spread, and the British mobilized to put down the impending rebellion. Then, out of the desert, came Mohammed Ahmed-Ibn-el-Sayed at the head of an army of nomads augmented by squads of seemingly supernatural creatures.
Calling himself Dr. Mobius, armed with amazing weird science weapons, Mohammed Ahmed-Ibn-el-Sayed first crushed Egypt's infant independence movement by killing its three most prominent leaders. The rebels scattered, leaderless and overwhelmed. Many of them joined forces with Dr. Mobius, who quickly cemented his hold on Cairo. It was then that Dr. Mobius unleashed his most powerful weapon: the Omegatron.
No one (at least outside Dr. Mobius's inner circle) knows the origin or full power of the Omegatron. Its capabilities are staggering. Dr. Mobius's first use of the Omegatron closed Egypt's borders with mighty "reality storms" that bend natural laws with unpredictable results. Protected by these unnatural phenomena, Dr. Mobius consolidated his power in Egypt, remaking the land into a mixture of the ancient and the modern, with himself as the peerless Pharaoh ruling it all.
Two years ago, in 1927, Dr. Mobius's armies invaded the surrounding African lands and even pushed eastward across the Red Sea. With each conquest, the radius of the reality storms expanded. Egypt's power-mad Pharaoh now sets his sights on all of North Africa. Within Egypt itself, Dr. Mobius's lackeys ensure their master's iron fist is felt everywhere.
Is there no one who can stand up to Dr. Mobius?
The Heroes
Well, sort of. For decades, there have been mystery men, costumed adventurers who fought the good fight against the forces of injustice. Cairo, Egypt, is no different, although the surviving mystery men there must move with caution.
If you're one of the four players in this game, you get to be one of Egypt's surviving mystery men. Of course, you're no match for Dr. Mobius. The best you can do so far is to be a thorn in less formidable sides while hoping against hope for a chance to put an end to Dr. Mobius's tyranny.
Heroes start at PL 6 with 105 pp using 2E Mutants and Masterminds and Ultimate Power. Here are some additional rules:
1. Ability scores bought above 26 must be acquired via Enhanced Traits.
2. No more than a +2/-2 trade-off. Base Attack and Defense must be at least +2 each.
3. Although weird science devices are possible, they are the technological exceptions. Otherwise, Dr. Mobius's Egypt has your typical late 1920s tech. Thus, for example, no Computers.
4. You can have one Luck rank per Fortune feat (up to 3 ranks maximum). Otherwise, you're limited to one rank of Luck.
5. Let's take it easy on the Minions and Sidekicks. I don't want to have to worry about oodles of Minions, et cetera.
6. Powers other than Enhanced Traits or those that are clearly not outside of human limits must have at least a -1 Flaw associated with them with no decrease in pp cost. The only exception is Devices. Devices can be bought as normal.
7. Drawbacks are complications. No extra pp for drawbacks.
8. Keep in mind that there are some types of heroes I just don't like. For example, I don't like Regenerating Feral Slashers or Reformed Demonic Avengers. Other concepts irritate me as well. I'll know them when I see them, and will let you know as well.
Player Roster
Giant Boy playing ?
Meteoric playing Re-Khenemetsi
jkason playing Fist of Khonshu
Merlin's Shadow playing ?
BTW, I really like this format for heroes.
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