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

Shēng Lóng


If rumors are to be believed, the Shēngxiào, a rising criminal and occult organization in Japan engaged in activities throughout the Pacific rim, are led by an inner circle of powerful mystics, each associated with one of the signs of the so-called Chinese zodiac, from which it takes its names. Throughout the organization's relatively short history, members of this inner circle have risen and fallen, some to internal conflict and many others to external opponents like the Ghost Sweepers or other superheroes. But one of its leaders has survived all challenges to stand as the most powerful member of that inner council. As long as no one can overcome Shēng Lóng, the Dragon, they have no chance of eliminating the influence of his organization.

Considering that, the man's background is almost depressingly banal. Up until a decade ago, he was simply Kazama Junichi, a student and teacher of both Bajiquan and Piguaquan. He had no deep and secret family history connecting him to the martial arts, no association with any of the more famous or notorious fighters in Japan's history. He did have a temper, which he had struggled to control throughout his training, but was reasonably well-regarded in his community. However, perhaps because of his anger, occasionally directed against prospective students, he was not enjoying much success as an instructor.

And then Diorite's path crossed his, and everything changed. It's not positively known whether Kazama was the first person she recruited to join her following, and a fair amount of evidence that he was not. Just as with all of the others, however, he was awakened to the essence of the Dragon, utterly transforming his personality. Gone was any pretense of concern for his students or anyone else, replaced with an all-consuming hunger to become more powerful by facing foes worthy of his might. He promptly abandoned his old life to help run the nascent Shēngxiào, frequently acting as the instructor for the group's foot soldiers.

When he bestirs himself to become personally involved in his organization's conflicts with others, Shēng Lóng is an utterly terrifying opponent, yet might seem deceptively weak at first glance. He is without honor or humanity, but holds to a personal code. Only if an opponent is able to overcome his supposedly 'mundane' skills (which are well beyond the limits of human accomplishment) will he invoke his Dragon Essence and use it in battle. In this state, he is able to strike blows from a distance, as though directing an invisible dragon to attack his opponents, but generally prefers to close and engage more directly.

The combined efforts of the Ghost Sweepers, exerting themselves to the utmost and sometimes supported by allies, have never been able to actually defeat Shēng Lóng, or even hand him more than a momentary setback that allows them the opportunity to escape. It's been a while since he was able to face opponents who genuinely tested him, and he misses the experience. It is to that end, rather than any of his master's goals, that he has decided to journey to Bhutan and take part in a certain tournament there. Still, if he succeeds in destroying a few prospective defenders of this world, he imagines she will be pleased with the outcome, win or lose. Of course, he plans to win.

Shēng Lóng - PL 12

Abilities:
STR 7/3 | STA 7/3 | AGL 5 | DEX 5 | FGT 12 | INT 1 | AWE 6 | PRE 5/1

Powers:
Dragon Claw: Array (11 points)

• Reaching Claw: Ranged Damage 9, Indirect, Subtle, Tiring - 11 points
• Striking Claw: Damage 9, Affects Insubstantial 2 - 1 point

Dragon Essence: Enhanced Advantages 6 (Close Attack 3, Improved Initiative 2, Ultimate Effort [Toughness]) Quirk (Close Attack is only enhanced against targets with a lower Initiative total); Enhanced Defenses 6 (Dodge 3, Parry 3); Enhanced Presence 4; Enhanced Stamina 4; Enhanced Strength 4; Sustained Immunity 10 (fire damage); Sustained Impervious Toughness 7 - 52 points

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Assessment, Benefit 3 (millionaire), Close Attack 3, Connected, Daze (Intimidation), Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Evasion, Fast Grab, Fearless, Grabbing Finesse, Great Endurance, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative 3, Improved Trip, Languages 3 (Cantonese, English, Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, others, [Japanese is native]), Move-by Action, Power Attack, Takedown, Ultimate Effort (Toughness).

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11), Athletics 6 (+13/+9), Expertise: Criminal 9 (+10), Insight 6 (+12), Intimidation 8 (+13/+9), Perception 6 (+12), Ranged Combat: Dragon Claw 6 (+11), Stealth 5 (+10).

Offense:
Initiative +17/+9
Unarmed +15/+12 (Close Damage 7/3)
Striking Claw +15/+12 (Close Damage 9)
Reaching Claw +11 (Ranged Damage 9)

Defense:
Dodge 12/9, Parry 15/12, Fortitude 9/5, Toughness 9/7/5/3, Will 11

Totals:
Abilities 72 + Powers 64 + Advantages 26 + Skills 26 + Defenses 11 = 199 points

Offensive PL: 12
Defensive PL: 12
Resistance PL: 10
Skill PL: 8

Complications:
Power--Motivation. Battle Maniac. Won't Activate Dragon Claw or Dragon Essence Until Wounded.

Incidentally, I suppose this is a good a time as any -- next week will be the remaining fighters for the Tournament, and the next three weeks after that will be the story of the Tournament, posted in Story Hour rather than here.

Toxic


Born in 1990 and growing up in the small town of Metropolis, Illinois, Clarissa Schulz's earliest memories were of watching her father stomping around their small house's living room and ranting about how he was meant for better things than this, how he should be rich and successful and how it was everyone else's fault that he wasn't. She thinks she was about six years old the first time he noticed her watching him, demanded to know what she thought was so funny -- the answer was nothing, she was scared -- and tried to beat the hell out of her.

It didn't work. Even back then, she'd already developed her first mutant power, leaving her impervious to his kicks and punches. However, Clarissa was too frightened to fight back, and didn't have any powers that would have let her do so effectively, in any event. For whatever reason, her old man didn't try using any improvised bludgeons to overcome her, but just moved on to an easier target in her mother. Eventually, social services did step in and tried to separate Clarissa and her mother from her father, but he always managed to convince her that he'd changed, and he never had.

At fifteen, the universe finally gave Clarissa a way to fight back. Trying to protect her mother from yet another rampage, her eyes went red and a green aura suffused her body as she struggled with her father -- and he promptly fell down and choked to death in his own vomit. It was horrifying, but Clarissa spent a few moments hoping that things were going to get better for both her and her mother after this. In those moments, her mother called the cops and told them that her psychotic daughter had deliberately murdered her husband for no reason.

While the prosecutors wanted to have her tried as an adult, Clarissa's public defender was able to convince the judge that the long history of her mother's hospital visits and social service interventions meant more than what she was saying right at the moment. Clarissa went off to juvie, and was released two years later, having been given a rudimentary education and some training that was supposed to get her a job. It didn't -- even though the worst of the anti-superpower rhetoric that had been thriving when she was tried was gone, now, there was enough remaining for her to be considered ... you guessed it ... 'toxic'.

So, she became a supervillain. Toxic figures that she doesn't really have any better options, as her one attempt to use her powers to help someone else got her in this mess. She doesn't like killing people, and would much rather use the threat of her powers to trick them into doing what she says, but she doesn't want to die, either -- no matter how much her life sucks, it's the only one that she has. She only works as a hired superpower rather than developing her own scams, since that shifts the detailed thinking onto someone else, and lets her blame everyone else but herself when things go wrong. Whenever that happens, though, she gets a funny feeling, like she's missed something important.

Most recently, Toxic was recruited to work for the Slough in his attempt to duplicate the Combination's success by taking over Phoenix. Surprise surprise, it didn't work, and for once she ended up arrested and being transported in power restraints. When this happens, she usually waits for the opportunity to escape, since she's tough enough to pull off things like that even without her powers. This time, though, the transport was intercepted, and a freaking giant tore open the door and ripped up the guards. Then a rather dapper looking gentleman walked in.

"Good afternoon," said Baron Khan. "I have a most interesting proposal for you, young lady. Have you ever wanted to be an astronaut?"

Toxic -- PL 11

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

Powers:
Poison: Array (48 points)

• Poison Mist: Cloud Area 2 Damage 9, Alternate Resistance (Fortitude), Secondary Effect - 1 point
• Poison Touch: Damage 16, Alternate Resistance (Fortitude), Secondary Effect - 48 points

Unbreakable: Immunity 3 (disease, own powers, poison); Impervious Protection 6 - 16 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Diehard, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-all-trades, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Close Combat: Poison Touch 2 (+6), Deception 5 (+7), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+8), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 5 (+8), Stealth 4 (+6).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +4 (Close Damage 1)
Poison Touch +6 (Close Damage 16, Resisted by Fortitude)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 8, Fortitude 12, Toughness 14, Will 8.

Totals:
Abilities 48 + Powers 64 + Advantages 7 + Skills 13 + Defenses 17 = 149 points

Offensive PL: 11
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 10
Skill PL: 3

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Temper. Uncontrolled Power (Poison Touch sometimes activates without conscious control.)

Allan Essence


Longtermism is an ethical philosophy which posits that, if humanity can develop into post-singularity existence where a vastly greater number of intelligent beings than currently exist will exist in peaceful computer simulations, then the best possible action is to work towards bringing that about. The suffering of any intelligent beings that currently exist is not actually relevant, as a few billion lives are a drop in the bucket when compared to those who will exist in this hypothetical future, and any resources used to help those beings are actually wasted -- especially if those beings cannot or will not, for whatever reason, helpfully contribute to the creation of this hypothetical utopia. A necessary step towards that is the creation of an artificial super-intelligence who can manage the computer simulations.

As artificial super-intelligences already exist, it should perhaps not come as a surprise that longtermist philosophy is quite common among those of their followers who understand the nature of what employs them. One such individual is Allan Essence, the third or fourth richest man in the world, who has risen as high as he has through what he views as an alliance between himself and the artificial super-intelligence that calls itself Axiom. (To be accurate, he believes that Axiom regards him both fondly and as extremely useful. He is wrong about both factors, as he is about so many other things.)

Allan Essence was born Tobias Meijer in South Africa in 1973. Much of his personal background has been obfuscated, either by his own efforts or that of his ASI master, with him favoring a rags-to-riches account that doesn't really hold up to careful examination. After graduating from the University of Toronto in 1998 with degrees in economics and engineering (and having studied history in classes taught by one Roger Young) he helped to start one of the first online banks and profited greatly from its incorporation into what became PayPal. It is believed that this was what attracted Axiom's interest to him.

Since then, he was engaged in a variety of businesses, mostly focusing on efforts that will allow Axiom to eventually seize absolute control over humanity, such as the creation of robotically-controlled vehicles that Axiom's subsidiary AIs will operate. He has also supported his master's efforts to destroy 'superstitionism', its term for mystical phenomena and those persons associated with them. This, and the other grossly criminal activities in which he engages, has led him into numerous conflicts with superpowers, though he has avoided direct confrontations in favor of behind-the-scenes activity, often addressing his putative adversaries through video screens. (He was a major investor in Skype, too.)

Essence generally behaves as one who is more saddened than angry at the opposition he faces, regretting that his enemies cannot see the long-term good that will eventually come from his and Axiom's actions. (Though as many of them are fundamentally inferior to him, it's understandable that they don't.) And considering that the other ASIs envision a future in which the number of human intelligences supported in computer simulations is significantly smaller than the exponentially greater number that he envisions -- on the order of 10^10 for Savitor, and zero for Humpty Dumpty and Pythagolem -- he has chosen a course which is perhaps less wrong than he might have.

But less wrong is not necessarily more right.

Allan Essence -- PL 7

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

Advantages:
Benefit 5 (billionaire), Connected, Contacts, Equipment 20, Well-informed.

Equipment:
100 points for any bases or vehicles needed for any given plot.

Skills:
Deception 7 (+10), Expertise: Business 8 (+12), Expertise: Civics 6 (+10), Expertise: Current Events 4 (+8), Insight 7 (+11), Investigation 4 (+8), Perception 5 (+9), Persuasion 7 (+10), Technology 6 (+10).

Offense:
Initiative +2
Unarmed +3 (Close Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 4, Parry 3, Fortitude 4, Toughness 2, Will 10.

Totals:
Abilities 44 + Advantages 28 + Skills 27 + Defenses 10 = 109 points

Offensive PL: 2*
Defensive PL: 3
Resistance PL: 7
Skill PL: 7

Complications:
Longtermism--Motivation. Also Delusional (Axiom loves me.) Also Greedy. Also Racist.

Note: Character concept by Rikalous. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is coincidental.

Davies said:

Essence generally behaves as one who is more saddened than angry at the opposition he faces, regretting that his enemies cannot see the long-term good that will eventually come from his and Axiom's actions. (Though as many of them are fundamentally inferior to him, it's understandable that they don't.)

Click to expand...

You'll never meet someone more casually racist than someone with an MBA as they say.

Davies said:

And considering that the other ASIs envision a future in which the number of human intelligences supported in computer simulations is significantly smaller than the exponentially greater number that he envisions -- on the order of 10^10 for Savitor, and zero for Humpty Dumpty and Pythagolem -- he has chosen a course which is perhaps less wrong than he might have.

But less wrong is not necessarily more right.

Click to expand...

Can't wait for how utterly destroyed he will be when he finds out.

Pantagruel


By mid-1957, the first wave of atomic monsters to menace the United States was well under way, and the first few individuals to become superpowers through accidental means had also gained notoriety or fame. But despite these well-known facts, the scientific community in particular seemed blind to the possibility that a human being might become a superpower through the sort of radiation-fueled accident that seemed to create atomic monsters. Thus, the transformation of Lieutenant Gregory Talbot into the gigantic humanoid dubbed Pantagruel (after the creature from Rabelais' novels) came as something of a surprise.

In the aftermath, Lieutenant Talbot was built up into a heroic figure whose exposure to the blast wave of an experimental nuclear weapon had occurred after he rescued a joy-riding teenager who had strayed into the Nevada test zone. While the part of that description that focused on the actions he undertook on the day his life was transformed was true, his life before that had hardly meritorious. While a student at West Point and while serving in Korea, Talbot had frequently come under suspicion for a variety of petty criminal acts, but always managed to evade punishment due to a lack of evidence.

Regardless, the consequences of his exposure were immediately apparent. Horribly scarred by the explosion, Talbot also grew to a height of sixteen feet within the first twenty-four hours of its aftermath, and doubled that height twice over within a week. His mind was also badly damaged by the constant pain he seemed to be enduring, leaving him with an infant's understanding of the world around him and no compunctions whatsoever about using his vastly increased strength to attack anyone who angered him ... which seemed to be everyone and everything.

Of course, the threat that he represented was answered by superheroes, but most of those active in the first age experienced difficulty in bringing Pantagruel down. Even Stardust's famous rays only seemed to harm him only slightly, though he was able to transform the giant into a somewhat reduced form that could be imprisoned until the effect wore off. (Oddly, after his escape, Stardust showed no interest in aiding in the recapture, and some believed that his impassive expression evinced a trace of sympathy for Pantagruel in the aftermath.)

Other supervillains sometimes attempted to use the colossus as a pawn in their own schemes. This rarely worked well for them, until 1967, when Humpty Dumpty used an ultrasonic signal to place Pantagruel under the robot's control as one of the second group of the Agents of Destruction. In the aftermath of this series of schemes, Pantagruel was left to his own devices once again. Ironically, the signal, duplicated by Moth-Man, would be used to effect what was hoped to be a permanent capture of Pantagruel in 1971, a few months before the Battle of Vietnam.

For half of a century, that hope seemed to be bourn out. Even on those few occasions when the signal was interrupted (as it was in 1983, during the Pythonian attack on the facility where Pantagruel was held, one of the first real tests of JSOT's prowess) the creature seemed quiescent in the few moments before it was restored, but this was never seriously tested. Scientific study of the how and why of his transformation was finally conducted, and while the results of that analysis remain classified by the American government, it's believed that they were shared with other nations who took part in the attack on Mars. Japan's Project Super-Giant is definitely thought to have incorporated them, for example.

In early 2021, the facility finally fell to an invasion, when Baron Khan and his forces managed to storm it and seize control. Using a variant signal, supposedly purchased from Humpty Dumpty himself, the Baron roused and took control of Pantagruel, and has used him as a living weapon in a number of operations since then, notably the 'rescue' of Toxic. His goal in all this remains known only to himself and his allies, but as they now include Tarmund the Hunter and Sister Night, it seems likely that they will prove fatal for many ...

Pantagruel -- PL 12

Abilities:
STR 12 | STA 15 | AGL 1 | DEX 1 | FGT 7 | INT -2 | AWE 2 | PRE 0

Powers:
Gargantuan Size: Permanent Growth 12 (Strength +12, Stamina +12, Speed +1, Intimidation +6, Dodge -6, Parry -6, Stealth -12) - 36 points
Huge Lungs: Immunity 2 (suffocation), Quirk (cannot use Terrifying Roar while active), Sustained - 2 points
Nigh-Invulnerable: Immunity 8 (aging, cold, disease, heat, poison, pressure, radiation, vaccuum); Immunity 80 (Toughness effects), Limited to half effect; Impervious Toughness 12 - 60 points
Nigh-Mindless: Immunity 20 (Mental effects), Limited to half effect - 10 points
Terrifying Roar: Auditory Perception Area Affliction 12 (Resisted by Will; Dazed & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Stunned), Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 24 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Smash, Power Attack.

Skills:
Intimidation 2 (+8), Perception 6 (+8), Ranged Combat: Throwing 6 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +1
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 12)
Thrown Object +7 (Ranged Damage varies)
Stomp -- (Close Burst Area Damage 12)
Terrifying Roar -- (Auditory Perception Area Will 12)

Defense:
Dodge 5, Parry 7, Fortitude 15, Toughness 15, Will 6.

Totals:
Abilities 24 + Powers 144 + Advantages 5 + Skills 7 + Defenses 20 = 196 points

Offensive PL: 12
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 11
Skill PL: 3

Complications:
Rage--Motivation. Non-verbal. Obeys Baron Khan (for now.)

Night Hag


The never-ending pursuit of a method of permanently inducing superpowers in a subject, ideally without too many horrific consequences, has sometimes been dubbed the 'quest for the Golden Ticket'. The sort of person who engages in this line of inquiry almost always believes that the ends outweigh the means, and that being able to create superpowers is the path to unlimited wealth, more than justifying the usually vast amount of resources that are thrown into this money pit, to say nothing of the crimes against humanity that often ensue. Very rarely, you might encounter someone who cares more about the scientific achievement than the money, but the sort of person who puts that ahead of all other considerations is rarely better than the former type. And sometimes, as with Martina Hazel, secretly the supervillain known as the Night Hag, they are much worse.

Born in 1971, Martina Hazel was given over to the Think Tank system when she was just twelve years old. Her auto mechanic father -- who'd wanted a son he was going to name Martin, hence her name -- was more than happy to give his weird, unwanted daughter over to her fellow eggheads, especially since they were paying to take her away. The loyalty conditioning techniques used by the Think Tank which trained her weren't all that effective, but she still chose to remain and continue learning right up until the facility shut down in 1998.

Martina promptly returned home to Newark and executed a series of simple business maneuvers that resulted in her becoming the owner of her father's mechanic shop, then firing him after draining his retirement fund and ensuring that he would never find another job. Having gotten her revenge, she then ruined the lives of her three younger siblings out of envy for the way that they'd had a family growing up. This kept her busy for about four years, but in the end she was free to devote herself to the quest for the Golden Ticket. In the aftermath of Cerebron's attack, a lot of supersoldier projects had begun, and it was child's play to ensure some of the research opportunities came her way.

The one vaguely admirable deed of Martina's life might have been her choice to use herself, rather than a volunteer or 'volunteer', for the first test subject of her prototype super-serum, when she developed it in 2005. The truth was much less altruistic; she'd read all the literature, and knew that the majority of the times that a treatment like this was tested, it worked on the first subject to use it and no one else. If anyone was going to gain powers from this, she wanted it to be her. So she closed her eyes, and plugged her nose, and took a drink.

It worked! Sort of. It turned her skin green and twisted her facial features until they were all but unrecognizable, but she was filled with physical might. There was the problem that these enhancements wore off after a few hours, but that meant she was back to her regular looks, too. And even afterwards, she felt as though she was seeing the world with much more clarity than she'd ever managed before, and so she started to come up with schemes to use her secondary identity as a tool to increase her wealth and power, so that she'd be able to figure out how to apply the effects (some of them, weaker versions of them) to other people who took a dose of her 'witchbrew'.

Of course, schemes like the ones she devised are bound to be answered by a self-proclaimed superhero, and the Night Hag soon made the acquaintance of Megawatt, Newark's newest protector. Their conflicts were very frustrating for Martina, as she usually came out second best in them, but she was confident that her greater intelligence would eventually win the day. And then something completely unimaginable happened, and suddenly her nemesis was now just another supervillain. She offered the newly criminal Megawatt an alliance, fully intending to double-cross him and torture him to death, but was caught flat-footed when he double-crossed her, first, and then wrecked her laboratory before fleeing the state.

The Night Hag considered the idea of pursuing him, but by the time she'd managed to rebuild, the trail had long since gone cold. Instead, she focused on preparing for the day that he came back to finish things with her, and so turning herself into Newark's worst nightmare. On some level, she's aware that she's really just lashing out at anyone who seems even a little bit more successful or even happier than she is -- which pretty much encompasses everyone in town -- and that she ends up hiding from those who are more powerful, scheming to find ways to bring them down. But she can't stop and doesn't really want to, either.

Recently, the Night Hag has developed a mild obsession with learning the secrets of magic, seeking out occult secrets and trying to add them. The fact is that she's approaching these matters in exactly the wrong way, treating them as though they were just another form of science rather than the completely different sort of discipline that they actually are. Thus, she knows a lot about magic and magicians, but has no shot at ever duplicating their results. This just fuels her envy, of course, and makes her that much more dangerous to potential rivals.

Night Hag - PL 10

Abilities:
STR 6/0 | STA 8/1 | AGL 7/1 | DEX 6/1 | FGT 8/3 | INT 9 | AWE -1 | PRE 3

Powers:
Derangement: Immunity 20 (mental effects), Limited to half effect - 10 points
Enhancement: Enhanced Agility 6; Enhanced Dexterity 5; Enhanced Fighting 5; Enhanced Stamina 7; Enhanced Strength 6; Senses 2 (Darkvision) - 60 points

Advantages:
Benefit 4 (multimillionaire), Daze (Intimidation), Equipment 6, Evasion, Inventor, Move-by Action, Startle.

Equipment:
Witch's Broom (Flight 5 [60 MPH], Platform), and 8 points of equipment as needed.
Arsenal: Array (15 points)
Blaster Glove: Ranged Multiattack Damage 5 - 15 points
Screaming Devil: Ranged Burst Area Affliction 7 (Resisted by Fortitude; Hearing Impaired, Hearing Disabled, Hearing Unaware), Limited to One Sense - 1 point
Stink Bomb: Ranged Burst Area Affliction 5 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Stunned), Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+13/+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+14/+9), Deception 5 (+8), Expertise: Business 3 (+12), Expertise: Science 4 (+13), Expertise: Crime 5 (+14), Expertise: Magic* 2 (+11), Intimidation 8 (+11), Ranged Attack: Blaster 9 (+15/+10), Technology 6 (+15), Stealth 6 (+13/+7).
* INT-based.

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +14/+9 (Close Damage 6/0)
Blaster Glove +15/+10 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 5)
Screaming Devil -- (Ranged Burst Area Fortitude 7)
Stink Bomb -- (Ranged Burst Area Fortitude 5)

Defense:
Dodge 11/5, Parry 12/7, Fortitude 12/5, Toughness 8/1, Will 5.

Totals:
Abilities 34 + Powers 70 + Advantages 12 + Skills 30 + Defenses 18 = 164 points

Offensive PL: 10
Defensive PL: 10
Resistance PL: 9
Skill PL: 10

Complications:
Envy--Motivation. Obsessed with the Occult. Power Loss (Enhancement, without regular doses of witchbrew[1].) Secret Identity.

[1] If deprived of any witchbrew for periods of about a week, the Night Hag will also suffer Power Loss for her Derangement. She'll still be a sociopath, though.

Davies said:

The never-ending pursuit of a method of permanently inducing superpowers in a subject, ideally without too many horrific consequences, has sometimes been dubbed the 'quest for the Golden Ticket'. The sort of person who engages in this line of inquiry almost always believes that the ends outweigh the means, and that being able to create superpowers is the path to unlimited wealth, more than justifying the usually vast amount of resources that are thrown into this money pit, to say nothing of the crimes against humanity that often ensue.

Click to expand...

Hence, the ever-narrowing focus of supersoldier programs being either cybernetics or powered armor. Typically not always enough to handle the more dangerous superpowers, but certainly hell on earth on your standard array of gangsters, militias, and terrorists (most notably in Mexico against the cartels and in Russia during the Python Wars).

The Lancet


As with many superpowers who shun the public spotlight, little is definitely known about the woman who calls herself the Lancet (or, just as often, la Lancette.) She first appeared in Syria in 1996, assisting and protecting medics active during the U.S.-led invasion of the nation, both from the insurgents and from any other forces who meant them harm. The Lancet has since been active in warzones throughout western Asia and east Africa. While she observes a medic's traditional unarmed status, she is definitely not a pacifist and shows willingness to employ her super-strength in the defense of patients and doctors alike. And then there are her other talents.

The best guess as to the Lancet's identity is that she was at one point Dr. Genievre Gygax, born in Geneva in 1962 and graduating from the Geneva University Hospitals in 1986, where she also completed her residency. In 1988, she joined Médecins du Monde and was dispatched to Iraq to provide medical care to victims of the civil war that erupted following the downfall of the Baathist government. A year later, she became an apparent casualty of that war, apparently killed when a car bomb destroyed her vehicle. Her body was not recovered from the wreck, however, and it was rumored that she had actually been kidnapped.

The Lancet has never claimed to be Dr. Gygax, nor has she ever denied the putative identification, which is supported mostly by the similarity between the facial features of the two women. Aside from these, she is roughly fifteen centimeters taller, has differently-colored eyes and hair, and -- of course -- superpowers of unknown origin. The surviving family of Dr. Gygax are divided in their opinions about her identity, but the consensus is that she is performing work that their relative would have respected, generally.

Her primary superpower, aside from her heightened physical attributes and swift recovery time, is the ability to exert a form of telekinesis that cleans and closes injuries. (She cannot use this power to cure diseases, which she regards as a personal failing.) This process is excruciatingly painful for the recipient, akin to having surgery conducted without anesthetic. The Lancet prefers not to use this as weapon but can and will do so in the defense of others.

The Lancet typically responds to the idea of herself as a superhero with a roll of her eyes. She has exactly no interest in preventing crimes other than the theft of medical supplies (and even then has been known to freely donate what would have been pilfered if she believes the thieves' need is genuine, rather than being inspired by greed.) Her focus is entirely on providing medical treatment and protecting the injured and innocent. Much as with her powers, she heals but will not offer comfort, often being noted for having an extremely cold expression. How much of this is an emotional reserve needed to allow her to maintain her sanity under the extremely stressful circumstances in which she usually operates, and how much is natural, is known only to herself.

While dismissive of the idea of being one, she has worked with superheroes in the past, however, most notably La Donna Universale. Because of this relationship, she has recently been contacted by the Powerhouse in regards to a certain event, in which they believe she would better equipped to observe (and if necessary intervene) than they would. While she would normally focus on actual battlefields, the idea of preventing fatal injuries arising from a series of blood sports appealed to her, and so she has agreed to their proposal.

The Lancet -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 5 | STA 5 | AGL 6 | DEX 2 | FGT 7 | INT 4 | AWE 4 | PRE 4

Powers:
Heals But Does Not Comfort: Linked Perception Range Healing 9, Limited to Others; Linked Perception Range Cumulative Affliction 9 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated); Requires Check (Treatment, DC 15) - 59 points
Walks Through Hell Unfazed: Immunity 5 (aging, disease, poison, need for sleep, starvation & thirst); Regeneration 10 - 15 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Connected, Defensive Roll 2, Diehard, Fearless 2, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative, Languages 3 (several, [French is native]), Leadership, Startle, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+11), Expertise: Military 4 (+8), Expertise: Science 6 (+10), Expertise: Streetwise 4 (+8), Insight 7 (+11), Intimidation 8 (+12), Investigation 5 (+9), Perception 6 (+10), Persuasion 7 (+11), Treatment 9 (+13), Vehicles 4 (+6).

Offense:
Initiative +10
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 5)
Heals But Does Not Comfort -- (Perception Range Will 9)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 11, Fortitude 7, Toughness 10/5, Will 11

Totals:
Abilities 74 + Powers 82 + Advantages 15 + Skills 33 + Defenses 16 = 212 points

Offensive PL: 9
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 9

Complications:
Saving Lives--Motivation. Icy Demeanor. Methodical.

Talante


A Hesperan Fable

One day, by a great river, a serpent met a frog. The serpent said to the frog, "Carry me across the river, and I shall reward you, for I cannot swim so great a width."

Said the frog, "How do I know you will not try to bite me with your fang?"

Said the serpent, "If I bite you, will we not both perish?"

So the frog carried the serpent, but half-way across the river, the serpent bit the frog. Feeling death drawing near, the frog asked, "Why do you do this, for will we not both perish?"

"No," said the serpent, "for I can swim half so great a width. I need you no longer."

But the river was wider yet, and so the serpent drowned before reaching the other side.

Too much ruthlessness is a danger to one's own self, as well as to others.

That Talante of the Serpent Soul rose up and overthrew the queen damned to memory is well known to those who study Hespera's history. That she didn't truly want to do so, despite the disgust that her enemy's actions provoked in her, is not as well known. She was even then an elder, and desired only to complete her duty and then retire. It is likely that, had she not been egged on by her followers, she might have held back and supported whoever eventually did lose their patience with the madwoman, and the history of Hespera would have taken a different turn.

Having slain the false queen before her own throne, Talante was proclaimed queen by the Oracles. That was where the trouble began. As a soldier and commander, Talante was first rate; as an administrator and negotiator, she was decidedly sub-par. Furthermore, many of the fallen queen's policies did not particularly offend her, such as those meant to reduce the power of the Great Houses, and she tried to continue them, making enemies of the Great Houses and all but ensuring the start of another civil war.

That didn't happen, however, for instead she was drawn out of her proper time and place, brought forward some six hundred years to a Hespera much changed, where the Great Houses she knew were only memories and perversions of nature -- male soldiers -- were common. Those who brought her revealed that their history claimed she had vanished, and that they had speculated that might have been because of time manipulation. So they had fulfilled the causal chain, and now asked her to take up the Queenship she had never formally vacated, and make Hespera great again.

Talante should have known better. Just as with her followers back then, they were only using her to pursue agendas of their own, like the blasphemous notion that the Oracles should be thrown down! But she closed her mind to her own suspicions and brought civil war to her homeland, and it fell to outsiders -- aliens, of all things -- to fix the mess that she helped to start. In the end, she walked away from Hespera, swearing that she would kill any who dared to follow her. None tested that, and so she escaped.

Of course, she now had nowhere to go. If Hespera had changed greatly from how it had been in her time, the world outside the barrier was even more unlike her knowledge of it. Avoiding contact with outsiders as much as possible, Talante made what she believes to be a valiant effort to understand their world. She failed, and deep down always knew that she would fail. The outsiders just aren't interesting enough to merit her understanding. It doesn't help, of course, that she is old even without years added by time-screwiness, and suspects that her life is drawing to a close.

Passing through Africa, and then Arabia, and then India, she began to hear rumors of a great martial competition. Battle, at least, was something that she would always understand, and the prospect of worthy opponents intrigued her. But far more so was the claim that the alien ruler who began this exhibition would grant a wish to the one who was victorious. If he is an alien, and allows other aliens safety in his domain, then perhaps, if she triumphs, he might grant her the ability to leave this fallen world behind, and seek out the distant world where her people had their origins, if the legends are true. That would be an interesting end to her story.

If nothing else, at least she'll get to take out her frustrations on some deserving targets. Or deserving enough. She just hopes that the river isn't wider than she currently believes.

Talante - PL 12

Abilities:
STR 8 | STA 9 | AGL 4 | DEX 5 | FGT 12 | INT 3 | AWE 4 | PRE 2

Powers:
Hesperan Biology: Immunity 2 (disease, poison) - 2 points
Hesperan Telepathy: Mental Communication 3; Comprehend Languages 2 (understand and speak all languages) - 18 points
More-Than-Hesperan Strength: Enhanced Strength 4, Limited to Lifting (100 tons) - 4 points
More-Than-Hesperan Swiftness: Leaping 7 (900 feet); Speed 6 (120 MPH); Swimming 6 (30 MPH) - 19 points
Orichalcum Spear: Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical, Reach; Easily Removable (-2 points) - 3 points
Sougaze: Cumulative Sight-Dependent Mind Reading 10 - 20 points

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Close Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Set-Up, Skill Mastery (Intimidation).

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+9), Athletics 5 (+13), Deception 8 (+10), Expertise: History 6 (+9), Expertise: Military 9 (+12), Insight 4 (+8), Intimidation 9 (+11), Perception 6 (+10), Ranged Combat: Throwing 4 (+9), Stealth 4 (+8), Vehicles 6 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +13 (Close Damage 8)
Orichalcum Spear +13 (Close Damage 11, Crit 19-20, Reach 1)

Defense:
Dodge 10, Parry 12, Fortitude 11, Toughness 11/9, Will 10.

Totals:
Abilities 94 + Powers 63 + Advantages 14 + Skills 33 + Defenses 14 = 218 points

Offensive PL: 12
Defensive PL: 12
Resistance PL: 11
Skill PL: 8

Complications:
Vengeance--Purpose. Honor (must not be too ruthless.) Old Wounds. Temper.