[M&M 2e] Red Sands Chronicles. (OOC)

Excerpt from the Travel Log of Daniel Saint James, published post-mortem.
Reader! Behold the wonders of Victoria Town, the jewel of the Greater Martian Union! Within her great walls, lies a thriving metropolis that holds everything you will ever desire! Life within this cyclopean city is idealistic. Here, citizens of the union are guaranteed employment and are under the constant vigilance of the union's watch who assured our humble traveler that the Victoria Town has not faced the savageries of the wasteland marauders, nor the suffered from an infestation of mutants, nor the syndicate violence that plagues our world's other localities!

Reader! Few, such as I, have witness the splendor, the elegance, or dare I say, have traveled outside the great cities, so do not take these words lightly: The entirety of Mars envies your beloved city of Victoria Town and the wisdom of your Greater Martian Union! I pray that the benevolent influence of your great civilization will spread beyond your cities' fortified walls to conquer the darkness that lies without!

Alas! Although it saddens me that my stay in this blessed city is at end, I am eternally grateful that I can spread word of Victoria Town's marvels!




SETTING
This game takes place on a partially terraformed Mars hundreds of years into the future. Humanity has left earth after the planet earth was rendered uninhabitable due to ecological disasters and an apocalyptic war. However, it should be noted that although Earth's biosphere was obliterated, Martian civilization was knocked back to pre-industrial levels with much of Mars being irradiated.

373 years have passed since that great war, and Martian civilization has entered into the new glorious age of wonder where technology is powered by a diesel, steam, and electricity and is often fortified with aether, a volatile and mutagen substance formed through the saturation of mystic energy. In sort, this game's tech level can be described as "Retro-Futuristic."

Martian civilization is divided between ten fortified metropolises and a countless number of small settlements that exist in the lawless wastelands. The average Martian rarely explore the regions beyond the immediate vicinity of their city-state, for fear of mutants, outlaws, and various 'technological horrors.' However, many brave foolhardy individuals find themselves can not escape the lure of exploring the 'mysterious wastes.'

The population on Mars is predominately human, although 'mutants' do exist. Generally speaking mutants tend to be degenerate monstrosities with paranormal abilities who are generally feared and loathed by polite society. However, it is not unusual for a mutant to have an 'non-corrupt' appearance.



CHARACTER CREATION
This game will be pulp inspired, so I will allow most character concepts and power sources.

PL 6 [110pp] with +/-3 dynamic trade-offs.
All abilities scores above 24 must be 'enhanced.'

Allowed Books
Mutants and Masterminds 2e Core Rulebook
Ultimate Power
Books of Magic
Golden Age (equipment)
Mecha and Manga (Mecha creation rules only)
Warriors and Warlocks


Mecha and Power Armor
These are considered are created as devices an are considered "special equipment." This means that ownership of these are severely restricted so it is likely that if you have one, you built it, stole it, or was granted permission to own or use it.
Mecha And Manga Restricted systems: Data Link, Escape Thrusters, Mechamorph, Zero-G Thrusters, All TL 5 systems.


Equipment:
This game will use Retro-Futuristic/Golden Age equipment with a Steam/Diesel punk flavor so "modern" pieces of equipment can exist if given sufficient descriptors.

Vehicle Limitations: Golden Age vehicles allowed. Max speed 4, and max Flight 5 unless built as a device. Aircraft are considered "special equipment." No watercraft.




The group will be based in Victoria City, and I hope to make this a character driven 'two-fisted serial' with 4 - 6 characters.


**I WILL CLOSE SUBMISSIONS ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 15th AT 9:00 AM (EASTERN)**



Dramatis personæ.
1. Padreigh - James Fauntleroy Featherston-Smythe, gentleman sorcerer
2. Shayuri - Deezy Klatta, the spunky mech monkey
3. Blackrat - Aeaxeos, Spartan guardman
4. Voda Vosa - The "Puppeteer", water controlling immortal who seeks to seeks to become a legend.
5. Binder Fred - Seif al Mariam, mutant sword of the bitter sea
6. Jkason - Brian Shaughnessy, psionic thermo-mancer.

Aetherton :

Alexandria:

Cydonia:

Daichi:

Ganga:

Iron Cathedral:

Libya: A citadel located on the peaks form by a meteor impact and is known for its concentrations of aether, and for the large number of mutants that are known to congregate in this city's vicinity that lead to the formation of Libya's many famous militia known as 'the Green'. It's believed that the large concentration of 'aether' in this region may be responsible for the ever increasing number of mutations that occur in this area.

Olympia: The city of decadence. Olympia is controlled by a council of elders whose laws are strictly enforced by the will of their Spartan warriors. The Spartans are known for their exclusive use of powered armor and their penchants for using staff-like weapons. Principal Language: English.

Sentenza: Is ruled by a secretive autocrat whose identity is clouded in mystery. The laws in this city are cruel and harsh, with 'justice' being handed out swiftly and without mercy. The town is known for its heavy emplacement of mercenaries, spies, and assassins. Principal Language: Spanish.

Sultan's Throne:


Tharsis:

Victoria Town: A large factory city controlled by the Great Martian Union and 'protected' by the Union's Watchmen. Unless you earn the respect of the Union's elite, life in this city is far from ideal as a result of the Union's desire to 'empower the citizen for their social benefit.' Principal Language: English.

The Wastes: This inhospitable wasteland dominates the Martian landscape. It is come to countless mutants, outlaws, and mechanical horrors from the lost age. Few brave this indomitable stretch of desert without the safety of numbers or without the aid of technology or the protection.

[sblock=Map of Mars as of 10.10.10] [/sblock]

How about "Warriors and Warlocks"-style sorcery? If that is allowed, I'll go for a "Victorian gentleman-sorcerer" type of character.

I'll allow it.

Hee. As usual, I have a competing stock of concepts. Here's a few that are floating to the top:

Spunky Mech-monkey - A self-taught mechanical savant who lives in a small wasteland settlement of no consequence stumbles across the buried remains of an Old War Machine when a storm uncovers it. Over the course of months of work, and trading practically everything she has for the parts needed, she manages to get the thing sort-of, semi-working again. Now, clad in impervious orbital steel skin, she sets forth into the wastelands, belching dark fumes from exhaust vents, in search of more old-tech she can break down and use to restore her mech even more.

Angel of the Red Sand - Frail and ephemeral, the Angel of the Red Sand is little more than a not-so-urban myth to most. A humanoid mutant of deceptively vulnerable appearance, but unparalleled paranormal power that she uses to punish the wicked, and reward the pure. Still, such a creature could only be a legend...right?

I have a vague notion of a sentient machine as well, which might be tricky to fit into 110pts but it'd be fun to take a crack at. I also have an idea about a primitive hunter with a knack for taming and befriending animals...a riff on Tarzan, but with some mutations.

As discussed with Relique earlier, I have a character idea of Spartan who hunted a dissident to the Victoria Town and is now temporarily working for the Victoria's Union in exhange for right to exert justice inside the city.

Something like Lawful Neutral Paladin. Smart, Charismatic and well spoken warrior who is only interested in upholding what he considers rightful laws.

Relique du Madde said:

I'll allow it.

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Most excellent.

A few other questions, if I may:

-Any limits on the "Independent, Slow Fade" combo for Alternate Powers?
- Will you use the "Wealth" system? And if yes, would I still have to buy a weapon with the equipment feat (I must admit that feat I never quite understood ... )?
- Benefit feat can be used to buy "access" to the Union's upper echelons?

Ruby! I also have a couple of concepts:

Main Concept:

The Puppeteer is of course a pseudonym. His real name is not known by lots of people, and that's for a reason. The Puppeteer has walked over Earth once, and came to Mars, when even he could not stand the weather. His past is shady, tainted by crime and murder, and worst. When one lives as much as he, you learn eventually that there is not much to gain on the long run being a murderer. Your name is easily forgotten. And what could terrify an immortal more, than being forgotten? Driven to oblivious for ever. True immortality, that's what The puppeteer wanted for himself, but for that he had to redeem himself to purge his name. So he changed his identity, he named himself, Mr White. Mr White hides behind a mask, a white featureless mask. Only his eyes, green and penetrating can be seen when he's using it. He dresses in white entirely, and in an Arabic fashion, with a turban and loose exotic designs. He seems like a character that walked out of the "One Thousand and One Nights" fable. The city of Victoria will be his starting point, from there, he'll try to make a name, to rise from the ashes of his past and became a legend!

Build: I was planning on making him a water controller. I was reading through Ultimate power and there are a lot of nice alternate powers, like dehydrate and suffocate that control the water of living things. I was wondering, would you allow ...
Blood control? It would be like a mind control, allowing the user to control the actions of the target after a failed fort save, but the mind of the character is free, so it perceives and sees what is he doing. It has some flaws and advantages:
Flaws:
-Controlled characters are aware of it, hence they can use extra effort, etc to resist the effect.
-Controlled characters retain memory of what have they done.
-Controlled characters are automatically noticeable by others.
-Only one thrall. Controlling blood requires a great deal of concentration.
Advantages:
-Targets Fortitude instead of will (is this even an advantage?)
-Usable as Alternate power of Water Control.
-Doesn't require extra effort to attempt another try. (The cumulative +1 to the save applies.)

Mind control costs 2 points per rank, I guess this should cost the same.

Using Blood Control is something that The Puppeteer has prohibited to himself (as it overrides free will -part of his shady past-), using it is part of a complication, and might put a drawback attached to it as well.

This is a placeholder for something awesome that I don't have time to type up at the moment. In theory. For some reason I've got an image of Edgar Rice Burroughs writing the Man with No Name into a John Carter story.

I'll answer Padreigh's question's out of order..

Padreigh said:

-Any limits on the "Independent, Slow Fade" combo for Alternate Powers?

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Max fade increment of an hour.

- Benefit feat can be used to buy "access" to the Union's upper echelons?

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To a point. Basically you can set yourself in the position of being one of the Executives of one of the Union's branches, but you can not be a member of Victoria Town's ruling Board of Directors.

General Member .. +0 0 Ranks
Stewards ............ +2 1 rank
Supervisors ........ +3 2 ranks
Branch Executives +4 3 ranks
Board of Directors +5 N/A

- Will you use the "Wealth" system? And if yes, would I still have to buy a weapon with the equipment feat (I must admit that feat I never quite understood ... )?

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Yes. I'll go by the W&W wealth/equipment option that states that equipment points are only really used to by 'special equipment' or equipment your character could not afford based on their on wealth rating.

I was actually thinking of using the "Monetary Wealth" once the game begins.