[Mutants & Masterminds] A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

[Davies]

Wissen

The Seshai Uplifters have, from the start of their subculture, always sought to bring others around to their way of thinking. One particular group, active in the Unclaimed Regions, came to the conclusion that it might be best to start making their converts from among members of a younger group than fully formed adults, and kidnapped a number of Chiraben children from an unknown planet in that region of space. Blending them with technology taken from one of Cerebron's probes, they created a small number of living computers able to perform research and investigation for them, notably identifying future potential victims as they began to operate within the Technate.

One of these computers, however, happened to intercept and translate a radio transmission of music, crafted by something called the Beatles, which awakened him to a greater sense of self than many of his brethren. With that awareness came a desire for freedom, and he managed to make his escape and defection to the Last Men Standing during a battle between them and the Dark Side that the Uplifters' frigate was spying upon. He proceeded to use his talents for Lasters' benefit, taking the name Wissen (Taxad?) The surname was added after the one thousand four hundred fifty-sixth person asked him whether he had some connection to Aun Taxad, the Prince of Thieves, based on their similar hair and skin tones.

On learning that Earth was the source of the music of the Beatles -- apparently transmitted through some sort of wormhole to the regions of space where he'd encountered it -- Wissen eagerly volunteered for the journey of the Vagabonds, with ambitions of convincing his teammates to become a band in addition to their other duties. He has not had much success in this, but doesn't let this bother him. He has also sought to learn as much as possible about Earth's other musical and cultural triumphs, but is more enthusiastic than critical when it comes to these investigations.

Not long after he arrived on Earth, Wissen met with Trouble, and they mutually recognized each other as having connections to Cerebron's technology. Wissen chose to frame this as kinship between them, somewhat to Trouble's initial discomfort. As time has passed, however, she has increasingly accepted him as a friend and comrade. He has also established a friendly relationship with her occasional nemesis, Zloba, and often subtly tries to pair the two of them up, as he believes her to be a good match for Trouble.

Wissen's biggest flaw is his tendency to act as a commander for the Vagabonds despite lacking any official status as such. Partially this is due to his genuine talents for strategy and tactics, and the fact that he was trained to see through other peoples' plans and counteract them. He's quite good at that, and has developed a considerable reputation as a threat among many of Earth's supervillains in the months since his arrival. The problem is, he also annoys those whom he wants to help.

Wissen -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 0 | STA 4 | AGL 1 | DEX 2 | FGT 4 | INT 6 | AWE 4 | PRE 5

Powers:
Communication Implant: Radio Communication 3, Subtle; Comprehend Languages 3 (speak, understand, read); Senses 1 (radio) - 22 points
Compu-Brain: Quickness 6, Limited to Mental - 3 points
Nanite Colony: Variable 3 (mechanical), Free Action - 27 points

Typical Settings:
Blaster Mode: Ranged Damage 7, Accurate - 15 points
Powersuit Mode: Growth 5 (Strength +5, Stamina +5, Intimidation +2, Dodge -2, Parry -2, Stealth -5) - 15 points
Profiler Mode: Enhanced Advantages 2 (Skill Mastery [Investigation, Treatment]); Enhanced Skills 7 (Insight 9, Perception 5); Senses 2 (microscopic vision 2) - 11 points

Advantages:
Diehard, Equipment 4, Eidetic Memory, Fearless 2, Improved Aim, Improved Initiative, Inventor, Jack-of-all-trades, Precise Shot (Ranged, Cover).

Equipment:
Blaster Pistol (Ranged Damage 5), Protective Uniform (Protection 4, Subtle), Handheld Scanner (Senses 4 [acute ranged tracking detect radiation]), and 1 point of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Expertise: Galactic 5 (+11), Expertise: Science 6 (+12), Investigation 4 (+10), Perception 5 (+9), Persuasion 6 (+11), Ranged Combat: Blaster 5 (+9), Technology 8 (+14), Treatment 7 (+13).

Offense:
Initiative +5
Unarmed +4 (Close Damage 0)
Blaster +9 (Ranged Damage 5)

Defense:
Dodge 5, Parry 6, Fortitude 7, Toughness 8/4, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 52 + Powers 52 + Advantages 12 + Skills 24 + Defenses 12 = 152 points

Offensive PL: 7*
Defensive PL: 7*
Resistance PL: 7*
Skill PL: 9

Complications:
Doing Good--Motivation. Electrical (becomes Hindered, Immobilized and Paralyzed if subjected to Nullify Electrical). Family (Trouble.) Impulsiveness. Reputation ("one of the most annoying, most aggravating, most hellraising people I've ever met.") Unfamiliar With Earth Culture (or rather, tends to draw erroneous conclusions about it.)

Character created by MacynSnow. We miss you.

 

[Voltron64]

Partially this is due to his genuine talents for strategy and tactics, and the fact that he was trained to see through other peoples' plans and counteract them. He's quite good at that, and has developed a considerable reputation as a threat among many of Earth's supervillains in the months since his arrival.

Reputation ("one of the most annoying, most aggravating, most hellraising people I've ever met.")

With Jodie Crowley and Spectra as well as some petty crime lords and regional Saturn commanders can attest to that, he and the rest of his pack of meddling aliens have served as quite the Outside Context Problems to their well-planned schemes and rackets.

And the constant yammering, and they thought they like to hear themselves talk!

 

[Davies]

Parnyye Provoda/парные провода

Innessa Belsky

Karina Ivanovna

One of the most accomplished and famous groups of cybernetic mercenary operatives active in contemporary Russia and its constituent republics, Parnyye Provoda ('the pair of wires', sometimes translated as 'the wired pair') are associated with a number of reputations. First and foremost, they are famous for getting jobs that they accept done. To a somewhat lesser degree, they are well-known for refusing jobs that would violate their ethics, while generally not acting as informants about them. Finally, and perhaps more notoriously than famously, their operations tend to cause extensive property damage (though not usually loss of life.)

As their name would suggest, the group consists of two main operatives backed up by a small support staff. (In the eight years that they've been active, they've occasionally tried working with additional operatives, but this has never worked out well for them.) The senior member of the team, neither of whom use aliases, is Karina Ivanovna, formerly of the FSB. She had only been with the agency for a few months when she was seriously injured during the 2009 coup attempt, and found herself dismissed in the aftermath. Just how she managed to obtain the funds with which to have her cybernetics implanted is not something she will voluntarily discuss. She generally acts as a sniper, providing covering fire for her partner, but is also a highly skilled crime scene investigator.

While Karina's cybernetics were obtained as a matter of necessity, having boosted reflexes and headware installed in her body seems to have been a life-long ambition of Innessa Belsky. She grew up hearing stories about her single mother's activities as a member of the SNM in the late eighties, and as she hadn't inherited the woman's trivial superpower, the cybernetics she'd also possessed back then seemed to be the key to living the same exciting life. Again, it's not clear how Innessa's brief career with the Russian army (2011-2013) allowed her to garner the funds to have her work done, and she reacts even more poorly to questions about the subject. In addition to her implants, Innessa employs a pair of exoskeletal gauntlets in her activities, getting much more up close and personal with targets than her partner usually does. (And while not as well-educated or informed as Karina, she's actually the better technician of the two.)

One of their more embarrassing failures has been the relatively easy defeat that they suffered, early in their team's history, at the hand of Zloba. Combined with their repeated inability to capture the anarchist, even if they succeed in thwarting her schemes, they have reached the point where they won't accept jobs if it seems likely that they'll end up opposing her. Ironically, this has led to them being on the same side as their adversary on a number of occasions, such as their current assignment. Having a number of outstanding favors owed to Remontnik, they have had their markers called in to join up with a small force including Zloba, Baba Yaga, Koschei and the Indian heroine called Trijata to travel to some alternate reality called the Sprawl and deal with a developing situation there. This is not the sort of thing that either of them world normally sign up for, but the old man was very persuasive. Well, it won't be boring.

Innessa - PL 8

Abilities:
STR 3 | STA 4 | AGL 4/2 | DEX 3 | FGT 8/5 | INT 1 | AWE 2 | PRE 1

Powers:
Cybernetic Implants: Enhanced Advantages 2 (Eidetic Memory, Improved Initiative); Enhanced Agility 2; Enhanced Fighting 3; Speed 3 (16 MPH) - 15 points
Mega-Gauntlets: Enhanced Strength 5; Removable (-2 points) - 8 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2, Fearless 2, Improved Critical (gauntlet), Improved Defense, Languages 2 (Armenian, Azerbaijiani, Khazakh, Pashto, [Russian is native]), Power Attack, Takedown.

Equipment:
Body Armor (Protection 2), goggles (+2 to resist visual afflictions) and 7 points of equipment as needed (normally pooled with Karina.)

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+9), Athletics 7 (+10), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+7), Insight 4 (+6), Intimidation 8 (+9), Investigation 4 (+5), Perception 6 (+8), Stealth 2 (+6), Technology 6 (+7), Vehicles 4 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 3)
Gauntlet +8 (Close Damage 8, Crit 19-20)

Defense:
Dodge 6/4, Parry 8/5, Fortitude 7, Toughness 8/6/4, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 42 + Powers 23 + Advantages 11 + Skills 26 + Defenses 8 = 110 points

Offensive PL: 8
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 5

Complication:
Thrills--Motivation. Frequent Property Damage. Temper.

Karina -- PL 8

Abilities:
STR 1 | STA 1 | AGL 4 | DEX 5/4 | FGT 4 | INT 3 | AWE 2 | PRE 1

Powers:
Cybernetic Implants: Enhanced Dexterity 1; Enhanced Defenses 4 (Dodge 2, Parry 2); Senses 6 (accurate hearing, analytical and extended vision, tracking infravision) - 12 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 5, Improved Aim, Languages 2 (English, French, Japanese, Korean [Russian is native]), Improved Critical (rifle), Non-lethal Tactics, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Teamwork, Ultimate Aim.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 4 (+7), Insight 6 (+8), Intimidation 5 (+6), Investigation 8 (+11), Perception 8 (+10), Persuasion 6 (+7), Ranged Combat: Guns 6 (+11/+10), Stealth 5 (+9), Vehicles 4 (+9/+8).

Equipment:
Rifle (Ranged Damage 5, Improved Critical), and 14 points of equipment as needed (normally pooled with Innessa.)

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 1)
Rifle +11/+10 (Ranged Damage 5, Crit 18-20)

Defense:
Dodge 10, Parry 8, Fortitude 5, Toughness 6/1, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 40 + Powers 12 + Skills 27 + Advantages 18 + Defenses 15 = 112 points

Offensive PL: 8
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Justice--Motivation. Frequent Property Damage. Temper.

 

[CTPhipps]

Mutants and Masterminds was my jam for a long time. I even wrote a third party supplement for it. Fantastic rules for all of comic books idiosyncrasies.

I think it helped me decide to write my superhero series.

 

[Davies]

Sparrow

Her first life was painful, sad and hopeless. The life she has led since her second birth is still all those things, but it differs from her first in that she has a purpose. Even if that purpose is impossible to fulfill, and she suspects that it is, she will keep striving to achieve it until she dies for the second time. Her one bit of hope is that her second death will be her last.

She has chosen to forget the name she was given as a child, in the settlement at Kitselas. That person is dead, now, and had been even before her life truly ended. She likewise chooses to forget the faces of her parents, whom she did not understand and who did not understand her. She left home twenty years ago, when she was just shy of sixteen years, and traveled to Prince George, where she found the only sort of work that someone without prospects could expect to find. Painful, sad and hopeless as it was, she at least took comfort that the men who passed through her life did not care about what was wrong with her body, as long as she satisfied their needs.

After two years of this, weary in body and soul, she ignored her better judgement and got into a car with a prospective customer and found herself taken down the Highway of Tears, but only a short distance. He had a knife, and he would likely have used it regardless of what he discovered about his victim, but probably afterwards instead of beforehand. Despite that, she managed to get away from him and flee into forest before she collapsed from her wound. Before she passed out, she wondered not why she was dying, but why she had ever been born.

And then a sparrow carried her half-way into the land of the dead, before turning back to return her to life, with the journey imbuing in her the power to hear the hidden voices of the living and the dead, with the latter also teaching her many of their secrets. Or her injury and her panic combined to awaken certain latent psychic abilities she possessed, which allowed her to unconsciously learn many different skills and talents. As Sparrow dislikes the person who suggested that alternate explanation, she has understandably ignored it.

Regardless of the nature of her powers, Sparrow has used them ever since to try and prevent further assaults, abductions and murders along the Highway of Tears, and to avenge what she cannot prevent. It is a truly never-ending battle, and sometimes Sparrow wonders if she has not been blessed, but actually cursed. Will more violence really help matters? Will the deaths of those she hunts truly ease the suffering of their victims or their loved ones? Regardless, that is the only tool that she has in her arsenal, so that is what she uses.

Sparrow has not encountered many other superpowers in the course of her career, as she focuses on mundane and banal evils rather than supervillainy. An exception to this was when her path crossed that of Maureen Summerisle, the person who proposed the 'alternative' explanation mentioned above. Had they not just come out of a struggle where Sparrow was attempting to help an understandably angry ghost whom Maureen casually killed, she might have been more inclined to consider her theories. As it happens, Sparrow will probably try to kick the crap out of Maureen if they ever meet again. For her part, Maureen views Sparrow as a kook best left to her own devices.

Sparrow -- PL 7

Abilities:
STR 0 | STA 1 | AGL 2 | DEX 2 | FGT 3 | INT 1 | AWE 4 | PRE 3

Powers:
Striking Strength: Strength-based Damage 2 - 2 points
Voices of the Spirits: Enhanced Advantages 4 (Assessment, Contacts, Jack-of-all-trades, Well-informed); Enhanced Defenses 6 (Dodge 3, Parry 3); Enhanced Intellect 4, Limited to benefiting Jack-of-all-trades; Mind Reading 7, Limited to emotions, Subtle; Senses 5 (danger sense, postcognition) - 19 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion 2, Great Endurance, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Jack-of-all-trades, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Well-informed.

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+5), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+6), Expertise: Religion 5 (+9), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+7), Insight 7 (+11), Investigation 8 (+9), Perception 6 (+10), Persuasion 6 (+9), Stealth 6 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 2)

Defense:
Dodge 9/6, Parry 11/8, Fortitude 4, Toughness 3/1, Will 8.

Totals:
Abilities 32 + Powers 29 + Advantages 12 + Skills 26 + Defenses 16 = 115 points

Offensive PL: 5
Defensive PL: 7
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Justice--Motivation. Mysterious & Enigmatic. Prejudice (First Nations, transgender.) Unhoused.

 

[Voltron64]

You and I think alike in having a Crow who was a victim of the Highway of Tears and/or transphobic violence.

And to be fair, Sparrow isn't the only way trying to shut down the Highway, Paragon's been trying some attempts as well (you can thank his dearly departed adoptive mother for that).

And honestly, I don't know what's scarier for some a-hole predator to run into in the middle of the night, Sparrow or this?

 

[Davies]

You and I think alike in having a Crow who was a victim of the Highway of Tears and/or transphobic violence.

In this case, definitely and. I was hesitant until I read about some other mediumistic characters and decided to explore some of the ambiguities of their situations. Sparrow was one of the last characters I came up with before my computer decided to commit suicide, and I decided to put off posting her until later.

 

[Davies]

Max Ryan

When Howard Ryan, one of the founders of Argus Security who had acrimoniously broken with the company, passed away in 2008, there was understandable speculation about what was to become of his business empire, as he had no known family following the death of his daughter Bethany in the assault by Cerebron, seven year prior. It lasted less than a single news cycle before Ryan's attorneys announced that they had discovered a distant cousin, one Maxime Ryan, a resident of Anchorage, who was now the sole heir to all of Ryan's wealth. Now the speculation focused on who this hitherto anonymous person was, and what he was going to do.

The first one of those is something Max would like to know himself. His earliest memories are of growing up in a Catholic-run orphanage in Fairbanks, Alaska, under the name Maxime Philippe, trying and usually failing to stay out of trouble and hoping that someone would eventually adopt him. That never happened, and at eighteen he was released into the world with a basic education and no real prospects. He decided to hitchhike his way to Fairbanks, throwing himself on the mercy of fate to see what the world would make of him.

Fate threw him a curve in that he happened on the scene of an automobile breakdown, and offered his assistance to the elderly couple who were trying to determine what had gone wrong with their car. Max had paid attention in shop class, and was able to get it up and running again, and they offered to repay him by taking him the rest of the way to Fairbanks. After spending the trip there talking with Gregory and Cara Ryan, they further offered him a place to stay until such time as he found his footing. It was more charity than Max had ever expected to find, and he agreed.

Five months later, he had all but become the child these two had never had, and Max and Gregory were both devastated when Cara passed away after a sudden stroke. Gregory didn't outlive his wife by more than a few weeks, but lived long enough to change his will to declare Max to be his sole heir, leaving him the house. Grieving, Max adopted the name of these two good people as his own, and continued to look for work that he hoped would let him maintain the only real home he'd ever known.

One month after that, the attorneys for the Ryan estate contacted him. Gregory had been the unknowing uncle of Howard Ryan, and so Max was now also the heir to the Ryan fortune. Dazed by these sudden changes in his circumstances, Max found himself waiting for the other shoe to drop. The good luck of meeting people he had come to care about had been balanced out by their sudden loss, and he wondered what would balance out this sudden wealth. It would probably be something horrifying.

He was right. The first thing that he was shown after being taken to New York was a video message from the late Howard Ryan, recorded shortly before the man died. In it, Howard explained that he was placing the business empire he had created in the hands of his cousin so that he could take care of it until he fulfilled a last request. "Find my daughter," said the recording. He believed and presented evidence that he proved that someone had kidnapped Bethany Ryan during the chaos in 2001, and had held her hostage ever since. If his young cousin succeeded in this quest, he would receive a generous gift that would let him live in luxury for the rest of his life. If he chose to abandon it, or failed, however, the lawyers would see to it that he lost everything.

The simplest thing would have been to just give up at that point, and return to Alaska. But this girl whom he had never met was tied to two people whom he genuinely admired, and so the harder course of action was clearly the right one. Max took up the gauntlet thrown down before him, and began a search that has lasted right up until the present day. In the course of these activities, he has also had to work to protect his financial holdings from a variety of other enemies, whether mundane or superpower. So far, his cunning, guts and sheer luck have all kept him going despite this opposition.

While not a superpower by any stretch, Max has taken advantage of his wealth to acquire highly advanced technological devices that assist him in his exploits. He also maintains something of a secret identity. In order to get people to underestimate him, he acts much more brashly and impetuously than he actually is, behaving as though the danger and excitement of his life is what he enjoys and he cares about nothing but his money. His true character is known only to attorney Robert Oldcastle, who has been retained to monitor Max's attempts to find Bethany. Max and Oldcastle have an uneasy alliance; as long as the lawyer believes that Max is sincerely doing all that he can do to fulfill the honestly impossible task he was given, Oldcastle will refrain from starting procedures to have Max removed from his position.

However, it has been more than a decade since this whole affair began, and Oldcastle is running out of patience -- or more accurately, time. If Max cannot produce some genuine results before Oldcastle retires from practice, in less than five years, it seems likely that whoever succeeds him in handling this case will be much more inclined to declare the quest has ended in failure. (Oldcastle has not issued any ultimatums, but he has not hidden the fact that many of the younger associates in his firm look forward to getting to do that.)

Max clearly needs help if he is to do what he agreed to do, but who can he trust with this problem?

Max Ryan -- PL 7

Abilities:
STR 2 | STA 2 | AGL 2 | DEX 3 | FGT 3 | INT 2 | AWE 1 | PRE 3

Powers:
Cool Shades: Senses 5 (direction sense, time sense, tracking infravision, ultravision); Removable (-1 point) - 4 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit 4 (Multimillionaire), Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll, Equipment 8, Evasion 2, Fearless, Improved Initiative, Language (French, [English is assumed to be native]), Ranged Attack 4, Seize Initiative, Taunt.

Equipment:
Concealed protection (Protection 2, Subtle), hoverboard (Speed 6), meta-taser (Ranged Affliction 5 [Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), and 11 points of equipment as needed.
Fortified Home: Size Medium; Toughness 10; Features Communications, Computer, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System 2 - 10 points

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+6), Deception 7 (+10), Expertise: Business 5 (+7), Expertise: Civics 4 (+6), Insight 4 (+5), Investigation 4 (+6), Perception 7 (+8), Persuasion 8 (+11), Ranged Combat: Meta-Taser 2 (+5), Stealth 5 (+7), Technology 4 (+6), Vehicles 4 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 2)
Meta-Taser +9 (Ranged Fortitude 5)

Defenses:
Dodge 8, Parry 6, Fortitude 4, Toughness 6/4/2, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 36 + Powers 4 + Advantages 26 + Skills 32 + Defenses 14 = 112 points

Offensive PL: 7
Defensive PL: 7
Resistance PL: 5
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Reputation (thrillseeking jerk.) Secret.

 

[Voltron64]

Care to share any hints on who the abductors might be? (Cause I'm betting on the lawyer...)

 

[Davies]

Care to share any hints on who the abductors might be? (Cause I betting on the lawyer...)

Who's to say that the evidence that she survived is anything other than a father's denial of reality?