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

[Davies]

The Iconoclast

Bursting onto the scene in San Francisco of 1963, the Iconoclast quickly established himself as an unconventional eccentric who marched to the beat of a different drummer, while nonetheless being an extremely effective crime fighter. He battled against a collection of would-be criminal masterminds who were every bit as bizarre as himself with a stream of patter and extraordinary agility, overcoming them all. Despite the skepticism of some of the more conservative members of the Institute, he was quickly invited to join the group, and unhesitatingly revealed his secret identity to them.

Behind the mask, he was one Andrew Lewis, a wealthy young gentleman who claimed to have been born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. His talents had been cultivated through a somewhat misspent youth, touring India and China. He claimed to have developed the identity of the Iconoclast after seeing how much fun the other early superheroes were having, and deciding to join in. None of this did anything to allay the doubts of certain of his new teammates, but the Iconoclast soon took his place as one of their most well-regarded members.

Perhaps those doubts should have been given more heed. In 1993, long after it was all over, journalist Richard Lawson discovered the minutes of a secret society called the Golden Mean, apparently established in 1919 despite an internal mythology that put its formation a century or so earlier. Their goal was to achieve the transformation of the American government into a technocratic state, run by themselves, and eventually the installation of a technocratic world government. And those minutes revealed that, in 1947, the nineteen-year-old Andrew Lewis had been recruited by the Golden Mean, trained by them as an operative, and eventually -- some sixteen years later -- assigned to infiltrate the Institute.

What those minutes did not reveal was that, despite this sinister origin, Lewis had never really had much interest in the Golden Mean's goals. He had joined the group largely on a lark, not taking it -- or anything else -- all that seriously. The thrill of being a secret operator, and later the greater excitement of being a famous superhero, were what he'd sought, though he also came to find genuine enjoyment in the good deeds that the Iconoclast performed.

Furthermore, whatever loyalty Lewis might have notionally felt for the Golden Mean was utterly destroyed when one of its leaders tried to blackmail him into becoming his personal agent through threats to reveal the other major secrets that he was keeping -- his homosexuality and his occasional recreational drug use. That, he took seriously. He promptly retaliated against this threat, secretly eliminating that senior member of the society and a few others whose activities had offended him, all without ever exposing himself to either the other members of the Golden Mean or his teammates on the Institute.

During the Battle of Vietnam, the Iconoclast was apparently the author of the strategy that successfully injured Stardust and prompted his retreat, though he was demonstrably horrified by the cost of the victory. He met his own fate after Stardust's disappearance, when a helicopter carrying him and several American servicemen suffered an equipment failure and crashed in the jungle. By the time that a rescue operation was mounted, there was no one alive at the crash site, though the Iconoclast's body was never actually recovered.

The exact cause of this incident has never been formally demonstrated. Lawson speculated that the Golden Mean had decided to end their agent's activities and faked the crash to extract him, or possibly to eliminate him. Others have noted that one of the Iconoclast's recurring enemies, the Soviet super-soldier Remontnik, had been in the area before the helicopter took flight, and that he might have sabotaged it, either of his own volition or as part of an assignment. In 1988, Kevin Hazzard, who had also been on the helicopter, reported to JSOT that the Iconoclast had been killed saving his life in the crash, and that he'd buried him before going AWOL. He had no more idea of what had caused the crash than anyone else, but believed it to have been a genuine accident.

Regardless, the Golden Mean endured only a few more years after this, before dissolving acrimoniously in 1977. Some of its members and agents wound up as part of the Pythonian Insurgency, while others disappeared completely in 1981. Its legacy, and that of the Iconoclast, would seem to be the later career of Hazard, and all that came from it.

The Iconoclast -- PL 8

Abilities:
STR 3 | STA 3 | AGL 4 | DEX 4 | FGT 6 | INT 7 | AWE 5 | PRE 5

Powers:
Striking Strength: Strength-based Damage 2 - 2 points

Equipment:
Throwing Discs (Ranged Damage 3), and 14 points of equipment as necessary.

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Assessment, Benefit 3 (Millionaire), Connected, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Equipment 4, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Jack-of-all-Trades, Languages 3 (several), Power Attack, Redirect, Set-up, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge, Well-Informed.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10), Athletics 6 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+9), Deception 7 (+12), Expertise: High Society 4 (+11), Insight 6 (+11), Intimidation 6 (+11), Investigation 6 (+13), Perception 7 (+12), Persuasion 6 (+11), Ranged Combat: Throwing Discs 5 (+9), Sleight of Hand 6 (+10), Stealth 6 (+10), Technology 4 (+11), Treatment 4 (+11), Vehicles 6 (+10).

Offense:
Initiative +12
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 5)
Throwing Discs +9 (Ranged Damage 3).

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

Totals:
Abilities 74 + Powers 2 + Advantages 25 + Skills 44 + Defenses 13 = 158 points

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Fame. Secrets (association with the Golden Mean, drug use, homosexual.)

 

[Davies]

Selkie

In her youth, as far as Nora knew, the world consisted only of the island where she and her father lived and the endless icy sea surrounding it, and it was populated only by herself and him. She had a dim set of memories of other people, and her father admitted that her mother had left them long ago, taking her son -- not 'our son', never 'your brother' -- with her. That tiny admission ensured that one day Nora too would leave their tiny world for whatever lay beyond it -- since saying that they left meant that they had to have gone somewhere else, which meant that somewhere else existed -- but for a time she was content to dwell on the island and swim in the sea, learning to use the command of water that she had inherited from him.

The time came when she was fifteen years old, in the year that she would learn was 1964. It was an accident, really; she was playing with a storm and it blew up into something beyond her ability to manage, and so she found herself lost at sea. Swimming faster and further than she ever had before brought her within sight of a different island -- Newfoundland, specifically. She rested there awhile before continuing to swim down the coast she'd just discovered, to Nova Scotia and then to Maine. That chanced to be where she rescued another child who'd swum too far, bringing him back to Old Orchard Beach and being bewildered by the strange language that everyone was speaking.

Eventually, they found someone who spoke Scots Gaelic, and Nora started to learn English from the Adams -- the people whose son, Ryan, she'd saved. They took her in when it became clear that she had no one else in the world save a father whose exact location was something of a mystery. It took her a while to get used to the idea that most people were not aquatic, not as strong or as tough, and could not command water at will, but as she did, it became clear to her that she had to use these talents of hers to be useful to the people around her or else they wouldn't put up with her. So she began patrolling the coastline, sometimes swimming as far south as Montauk, where she made the acquaintance of fisherman Frank Mundus.

It didn't take long for her to be invited to join the Institute -- who, like most everyone else, were under the impression that she was an adult instead of a teenaged girl -- though her participation in the group's activities was usually quite limited. She needed to remain hydrated, and quite a few of their cases took place far inland. Even beyond that, she was a shy person who rarely spoke up during meetings, generally abstained from voting, and didn't seek the society of her fellows. There was an exception to that, as she was initially quite fascinated by Protius of the Primal Pattern, whom she thought might have some connection to her. That turned out not to be the case, but they remained somewhat distant friends until the end.

Her survival during the Battle of Vietnam was something of a miracle. She used the water of the Mekong River to ambush Stardust, but he proceeded to boil it and her. Nora later claimed that Protius had actually survived the Primal Pattern's apparent demise, and sacrificed himself to save her, though she was unclear about how he'd managed this. Regardless, she spent most of the next year isolated from her friends and fellows, though she ultimately did return to take part in the Institute's last cases.

After the Institute shut down, Selkie finally managed to find her way back to the island where she'd grown up, only to find it long abandoned. What had happened to her father remained a mystery that she was never able to solve. While swimming north of the island, she had a confrontation with some would-be pirates and took a serious injury in defeating them. Her unconscious body was caught by an Icelandic fishing vessel, captained by one Árni Einarsson. Grateful to him for saving her life -- while she couldn't drown, she could easily have found herself consumed by an oceanic predator if she'd remained adrift -- she also enjoyed how he made her laugh for the first time in quite a while.

They were married a year later, and their son born in 1979. The rest of the story has already been told. Nora Adams lies buried in a Reykjavik cemetery, beside her husband.

Selkie -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 8 | STA 9 | AGL 5 | DEX 3 | FGT 6 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
Aquatic: Immunity 3 (cold, drowning, pressure); Impervious Toughness 6; Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation-Aquatic); Senses 7 (Accurate Extended 2 Tracking 2 Hearing (Only when submerged), Low-Light Vision); Swimming 8 (120 MPH) - 23 points
Maritime Empathy: Comprehend Animals 2, Limited to Aquatic Animals - 4 points
Water-Mastery: Array (18 points)

• Hard Water Objects: Create 9 (hard water) - 18 point
• Move Water: Perception Range Move Object 9, Limited to Water - 1 point
• Stormy Weather: Environment 9 (impede movement 1, visibility 1) - 1 point
• Water Blast: Ranged Damage 9 - 1 points
• Water Snare: Ranged Affliction 9 (Resisted by Dodge; Hindered and Vulnerable, Immobile and Defenseless), Extra Condition, Limited to Two Degrees - 1 point

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Favored Environment (underwater), Great Endurance, Improved Initiative, Languages (English, [Scots Gaelic is native].)

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+8), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 6 (+9), Persuasion 8 (+10), Ranged Combat: Water Control 6 (+9).

Offense:
Initiative +9
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 8)
Water Blast +9 (Ranged Damage 9)
Water Snare +9 (Ranged Affliction 9, Resisted by Dodge)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 7, Fortitude 10, Toughness 9, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 74 + Powers 49 + Advantages 7 + Skills 13 + Defenses 9 = 152 points

Complications:
Acceptance--Motivation. Friends (Adams family of Maine.) Shyness. Weakness (lack of regular exposure to water.)

 

[Davies]

Diane Fortune

According to the official biography she provided to the U.S. State Department during her naturalization procedures, facilitated by her membership in the Institute, Diane Fortune was born in Salisbury at the end of September, 1946, nine months after the death of her so-called previous incarnation. More than one question was raised about this, as these interviews took place in 1964 and she seemed somewhat older than seventeen or eighteen years of age. However, as she had already helped to save the United States from several disasters, these questions were overlooked at the time.

Three decades later, Richard Lawson would conduct his own investigations into the matter, and discovered much of the true story. Margaret Lambkin was born in 1941 to a respectable middle-class family in Glastonbury; her father was a shop-keeper and her mother a housewife. A precocious child, she discovered Dion Fortune's writings in her early adolescence, and became enchanted with them, striving to develop mystical abilities as a result. Her parents discouraged this, and so she ran away from home in 1957.

Among the things that Lawson did not discover was that Margaret soon formed a partnership with another runaway, Benjamin Herschlag, and accompanied him across the Atlantic. Their partnership did not long survive their arrival in the United States, as she was intent on pursuing her own dreams and had no interest in 'Johnny Master's" criminal ambitions. Margaret began calling herself Diane Fortune in 1960, not long after she took up with one Nicholas Ashe, who facilitated her access to his family's archives.

In 1962, Diane gave birth to her only offspring, listing Nicholas as the father. Lawson was not able to discover what had become of the child, largely because the House of Ashe blocked all of his inquiries. Uninterested in motherhood, Diane allowed Nicholas' family to take charge of their descendant, despite the fact that Nicholas was estranged from them. This marked the end of any friendly or intimate relationship between the two of them, and also the beginning of Nicholas' career as Diavolus, Diane's most recurrent foe.

Indeed, Diane largely joined the Institute in 1963 to take shelter among its membership from Diavolus' attempts at revenge, as well as those of other mystics whom she had offended or outraged in her pursuit of power. While a loyal member of the organization who provided its members with intelligence about the mystical community and support, her priority was very much on gaining as much magical knowledge for her own uses as possible. Her stated goal in doing so was to use that wisdom to make the Age of Aquarius a utopian one, but how much of that was self-justification is hard to say.

Shortly after Diane accepted the petition of another young mystic to become her apprentice, she was caught up in the Battle of Vietnam. She chose to avoid the frontlines, instead using her astral projection as a means of reconnaissance, passing intelligence through her apprentice to those who needed it. When Stardust finally retreated, she was observing in astral form and let out a sigh ... that turned to a choke as she realized that her physical body was being smothered. Unable to return to it in time, Diane Fortune joined the ranks of the fallen, and her apprentice, later to be known as Gertrude Gallowglass, stole off with all her collected arcane lore.

Diane's child, later known as Jodie Crowley, has no notion of their mother's identity, and would not care if they did know.

Diane Fortune -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Mystic Awareness: Senses 3 (analytical radius mystic awareness) - 3 points
Mystical Talents: Array (24 points)

• Astral Projection: Remote Viewing 8 (Auditory, Visual), Quirk (physical body is helpless), Subtle - 24 points
• Ghost Hands: Perception Range Move Object 7, Precise, Subtle 2 - 1 point
• Maddening Blast: Ranged Damage 8, Resisted by Will - 1 point
• Phantasms: Illusion 4 (All Senses), Area, Selective, Resisted by Will - 1 point
• Suggestion: Hearing-Dependent Perception Range Cumulative Affliction 8 (Dazed, Compelled, Controlled) - 1 point

Shielded Mind: Impervious Will 8, Limited to Mental Effects - 4 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Defensive Roll 2, Languages 3, Ritualist, Trance.

Skills:
Deception 6 (+10), Expertise: History 6 (+8), Expertise: Magic 6 (+10), Insight 6 (+10), Intimidation 4 (+8), Investigation 5 (+7), Perception 5 (+9), Ranged Combat: Magic 5 (+8), Sleight of Hand 3 (+6), Stealth 6 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +1
Unarmed +2 (Close Damage 0)
Maddening Blast +8 (Ranged Damage 8, Resisted by Will)
Suggestion -- (Perception Range Will 8)

Defense:
Dodge 7, Parry 5, Fortitude 3, Toughness 5/0, Will 10

Totals:
Abilities 32 + Powers 35 + Advantages 8 + Skills 26 + Defenses 18 = 119 points

Complications:
Discovery--Motivation. Enemy (Diavolus.) Mystical and Enigmatic. Secret (true origins.)

 

[Davies]

Antaeus

Born in Greece in 1938, Demetrius Panagakos' name was Anglicized to Steve when he and his family fled their homeland and came to the United States as refugees. Settling in upstate New York, Steve led a fairly normal life, which included a football scholarship at the University of Michigan thanks to his strong build and aptitude from the sport. However, although he gave the team his best effort, football was not his passion. That was given to his scientific studies, particularly geology, which had fascinated him for his entire life.

After completing his Bachelor's Degree, Steve continued to pursue post-graduate studies in the Earth Sciences. While conducting a solitary research study in southwestern Montana, he chanced to discover an undocumented cave system. Normally, he would have simply noted the cave's existence and possibly returned later with a group of spelunkers, but for some reason he felt compelled to examine the caves personally. Before he had gotten very far, the cave entrance collapsed, leaving him buried alive.

Something surged within him, then, and he tore his way out of the collapsed chamber with main strength. In the light of day, he realized that he had been transformed into a being of solid rock, vastly powerful and nearly invulnerable. Steven would soon learn that three other people had, on that very same day, been transformed into bodies of air, fire, and water. Dubbing himself Antaeus, after the monster from Greek mythology who drew strength from the Earth, Steve promptly volunteered to join the Institute and used the team's resources to persuade the other three to join as well.

Despite having taken this initiative, Steve was startled to find himself installed as the leader of what became known as the Primal Pattern, as he believed that he lacked the sort of charisma or tactical brilliance that were the hallmarks of leadership that he'd. But his steadiness and stability, learned from the quarterbacks that he'd known, proved to be very helpful in keeping his teammates on task, and his intellect, while not spectacular by the standards of Hyperbrains, was also a factor in his selection. He was actually elected as the Institute's Chairman in 1966, but only served a single two-year term.

As with all the members of the Primal Pattern, Antaeus met his end in the Battle of Vietnam, with Stardust employing the various elemental powers of the sub-team against them. Drowned in water and battered with wind, Antaeus' body was reduced to a muddy mess, one of the first members of the group to succumb. He had arranged for his remains to be donated to science in hopes that some method of restoring other individuals who suffered permanent physical transformations could be discovered, ideally benefiting his teammates. As far as is known, no discoveries of this nature were ever made prior to the introduction of power nullification technology in the last decade.

Anateus -- PL 10

Abilities:
STR 10/2 | STA 4 | AGL 2 | DEX 1 | FGT 4 | INT 3 | AWE 2 | PRE 0

Powers:
Strength Tricks: Array (10 points), Based on Strength Damage

• Groundstrike: Burst Area Affliction 10 (Resisted by Fortitude, Overcome by Dodge; Dazed and Vulnerable, Stunned and Prone), Extra Condition, Limited Degrees, Limited, targets and attacker must both be in contact with the ground - 1 point
• Shockwave: Burst Area Damage 10, Limited, targets and attacker must both be in contact with the ground - 1 point

Transformed Form: Reaction Damage 8 (being struck in melee), Limited to lesser of attack's Damage rank or power's Damage rank; Enhanced Strength 8; Immunity 10 (life support); Impervious Protection 8; Regeneration 10, Source (contact with natural earth) - 71 points

Advantages:
Interpose, Leadership, Move-by Attack, Power Attack.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+8), Expertise: Science 6 (+9), Insight 6 (+8), Intimidation 6 (+6), Investigation 4 (+7), Perception 6 (+8), Technology 4 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +2
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 10)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 8, Fortitude 9, Toughness 12, Will 7.

Totals:
Abilities 36 + Powers 73 + Advantages 4 + Skills 18 + Defenses 18 = 149 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Inhuman Appearance. Very Heavy. Weakness (when separated from the earth by air or water.)

 

[Davies]

Phoenix

Born in 1936, Sam Farrell sought and found employment as a firefighter with the Chicago Fire Department in 1956. He was good at his job, and well-respected by his colleagues for his level headed approach to the tasks of preventing the spread of fire and rescuing its victims. By 1962, he'd risen to the rank of Lieutenant, and was expected to one day fill the role of Battalion Chief or even District Chief. And then his destiny was changed, and not really for the better.

Just what started the fire in the warehouse in Chicago's Fulton River District was something of a mystery. Faulty wiring was blamed, as the warehouse's owner had received a warning on the subject in the past. But in the aftermath, the owner produced evidence that he'd made the required repairs, and was as mystified about the fire as anyone else. Sam would later claim that right before the roof collapsed on him, he'd glimpsed a crate with a weird marking on the side of it, which diagram was beyond his abilities to reproduce.

When he regained consciousness, the fire had been extinguished -- but the other firefighters panicked at the site of Sam moving around. He soon realized that he'd somehow been transformed into a humanoid body of fire, able to make his human features appear on its head with difficulty, but unable to touch anything without exposing it to his flames. He was also, mysteriously, lighter than air and able to fly, which he did to escape the attempts of his former comrades to extinguish him.

A few days later, having hidden out on Northerly Island, Sam was sought out by Antaeus, another recently transformed being, who explained the two of them and two other individuals had all been transformed into representations of the classical elements at roughly the same time. He convinced Sam that there had to be some purpose behind this, and that they should use their powers in the service of humanity as members of the Institute. Sam promptly agreed to this notion, and took the name Phoenix.

It soon became clear that the transformation that Phoenix had undergone had changed his personality as well as his physical form. Gone was the calm and level-headed rescue worker; he had become an impulsive and quick-tempered combatant, frequently sniping at his fellow members of the Primal Pattern. He was probably the most individually powerful member of the team, and never let anyone forget this. It was also noted that he'd completely cut all ties with the friends and family of his previous life, acting as though he'd literally died and been reborn as a Phoenix. However, he still clearly remembered being a firefighter, and frequently advised his colleagues on the best way to handle such situations.

In the end, he died in the Battle of Vietnam, with Stardust employing water to extinguish his flames and earth to smother them entirely. Little remained of his body but ashes, which were subsequently taken into care by the same scientists who claimed the remains of Antaeus. If they learned anything from them, nothing was ever published.

Phoenix - PL 9

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

Powers:
Fire Control: Array (24 points)

• Fire Blast: Ranged Damage 12 - 24 points
• Fire Burst: Burst Area 2 Damage 8 - 1 point
• Flame Flash: Ranged Burst Area Cumulative Affliction 8 (Resisted and Overcome by Fortitude; Visually Impaired, Visually Disabled, Visually Unaware), Limited to One Sense - 1 point
• Open Flame: Environment 6 (Extreme Heat, Bright Light) - 1 point

Transformed Form: Reaction Damage 4 (touching or touched); Flight 6 (120 MPH); Immunity 15 (fire damage, life support); Permanent Insubstantial 3 - 58 points

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Evasion, Extraordinary Effort, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative.

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+10), Expertise: Firefighter 6 (+7), Intimidation 5 (+8), Perception 6 (+6), Ranged Combat: Fire Control 4 (+6).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage -- plus Reaction Damage 4)
Fire Blast +6 (Ranged Damage 12)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 9, Fortitude 6, Toughness 3, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 38 + Powers 85 + Advantages 7 + Skills 17 + Defenses 19 = 166 points

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Hot-Headed (well duh.) Inhuman Appearance. Vulnerability (anything that extinguishes flame also does damage.)

 

[Davies]

Aeolia

The year 1956 was not just the year that the first age of heroes began; many other things happened that year as well. For Corey Murphy, growing up in Queens, the most important event of that year was the first airing of The Wizard of Oz on television. She'd seen the movie before, sort of, having been taken to the 1949 theatrical re-release when she was five, but she'd fallen asleep partway through and missed the ending. That wasn't a problem this time.

Someone else might have been fascinated by the many colorful characters to be seen in the film, but one thing, more than any other, captured Corey's attention. That was the balloon that the Wizard used to leave Oz. She'd seen drawings of balloons in books, but this was something different, something real. And it was something she wanted to do, now more than anything. And as it so happened, 1956 was also the year that Ed Yost founded Raven Industries, which would create the modern hot-air balloon.

After high school graduation, Corey managed to finagle herself a secretarial job in Raven's South Dakota headquarters, and from there wound up as an occasional back-up test pilot. In 1962, while on a routine flight, Corey suffered an inexplicable blackout at 13,000 feet, and the balloon continued to ascend. By the time that she regained consciousness, the balloon had reached an altitude of 102,000 feet, and after a brief moment in which she was bewildered by the fact that she could breathe unassisted at that altitude, the heating mechanism failed and the balloon dropped like a stone.

Corey herself, however, did not. She had been transformed into a gaseous being, though her initial belief (which never fully left her) was that she'd died and become a ghost. While haunting the offices of Raven Industries, she was contacted by Antaeus, who convinced her of a somewhat more scientific explanation for her condition, and coaxed her into joining the Primal Pattern and the Institute. Her role in the group's operations was that of a scout, primarily, though she was able to use her command of the wind as a potent weapon.

Like all her teammates, Aeolia was killed in the Battle of Vietnam, with Stardust using fires comparable to Phoenix's to ionize the atoms of her gaseous form, a transformation that apparently destroyed her consciousness. However, literally nothing remained of her person in the end ... and some have suggested that this meant that she was not, in fact, actually dead. She was never seen again, though some of the survivors reported feeling a gentle breeze during the memorial service for the other victims of the conflict. It was probably just the wind, though.

Aeolia - PL 9

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

Powers:
Transformed Form: Visual Concealment 4, Partial; Enhanced Defenses 12 (Dodge 6, Parry 6); Flight 7 (250 MPH); Immunity 10 (life support); Permanent Insubstantial 2 - 56 points
Wind Control: Array (24 points)

• Lifting Winds: Move Object 12 - 24 points
• Shearing Winds: Damaging Move Object 8 - 1 point

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Initiative

Skills:
Deception 6 (+7), Technology 4 (+4), Ranged Combat: Wind Control 4 (+6), Investigation 5 (+5), Perception 4 (+7), Stealth 5 (+9), Vehicles 6 (+8)

Offense:
Initiative +8
Shearing Wind +6 (Ranged Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 14/8, Parry 12/6, Fortitude 5, Toughness 4/2, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 34 + Powers 81 + Advantages 4 + Skills 17 + Defenses 13 = 149 points

Complications:
Acceptance--Motivation. Gloomy and Morose. Inhuman Appearance. Vulnerability (temperature-based attacks).

 

[Davies]

Protius

When Antaeus tracked down Protius, in the city of Freeport, Texas, he was almost as hard to find as Aeolia had been, despite the fact that there'd been far more sightings of the water marauder. Eventually, the two elementals met each other, and after a relatively short fight, they agreed to sit down and discuss matters like civilized gentlemen. Protius told the story of having been Wayne Manderville, a boat owner and occasional practitioner of the relatively young hobby of scuba diving. While diving in the Gulf, he'd encountered a strange pattern on the seabed that had blinded him with a brilliant light, transforming him into a liquid creature who flowed out of his wetsuit and up towards the surface.

Antaeus found it easy to persuade Protius to abandon his career of slightly criminal mischief in Freeport and join him and the other members of the Primal Pattern in the Institute. The aquatic lunatic was a frequently disruptive presence on the team, often questioning the strategies that Antaeus devised -- sometimes to the team's benefit, but often just to be contrary. He was also fond of engaging in trickery of their opponents, and of their allies, often coming up with frankly juvenile pranks. The only member of the Institute he never played jokes on was Selkie; despite what his teammates thought, their relationship was never actually romantic, just straightforwardly friendly.

Or at least, as straightforwardly as he could be. In the nineties, once again, Richard Lawson undertook some research into Protius' background. He found records of a Wayne Manderville resident in Freeport in 1960, but no evidence that he'd ever owned a boat or a set of scuba equipment. He'd been a pool hustler and multiple time loser. While he had disappeared in 1962, the last verifiable sighting of him had been more than a week before the origins of the Primal Pattern.

Lawson argued that Manderville had actually been Protius, as his background would explain why someone who'd supposedly owned his own boat demonstrated no particular familiarity with seamanship -- not knowing the definitions of port and starboard -- as he did during a 1967 case. The most likely explanation of his origin, in Lawson's view, was that he'd annoyed someone after winning (or losing) a particularly important game, who then drowned him on the same day as the other Primal origins. But there was no proof of any of this, obviously.

Regardless, his fate was the same as the rest of his teammates, boiled into steam and then dispersed by a wind blast from Stardust. Tiny puddles of unusual liquid were discovered on the ground surrounding the site of his demise, and recovered by the scientists who also gathered Antaeus' and Phoenix's remains. Selkie claimed that enough of Protius' consciousness survived in his steam state that he was able to help her in some unexplained manner, but offered nothing but vehemence as evidence that had happened.

Protius -- PL 9

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

Powers:
Transformed Form: Visual Concealment 4, Limited, Only in liquid; Elongation 8; Immunity 12 (life support, water effects); Permanent Insubstantial 1; Movement 2 (Slithering, Sure-footed); Protection 8; Regeneration 8, Source (Water); Swimming 7 (60 MPH) - 52 points
Water Control: Array (20 points)

• Drowning: Progressive Affliction 10 (Resisted and Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Grab-based - 1 point
• Water Blast: Ranged Damage 10 - 20 points

Advantages:
Close Attack 3, Daze (Deception), Favored Environment (water), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Taunt.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+8), Deception 6 (+7), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+9), Perception 4 (+6), Ranged Combat: Water Control 6 (+7), Stealth 6 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +11 (Close Damage 2)
Water Blast +7 (Ranged Damage 10)
Grab +7 (Strength or Dodge 10 plus Fortitude 10)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 8, Fortitude 7, Toughness 10, Will 6.

Totals:
Abilities 32 + Powers 73 + Advantages 5 + Skills 17 + Defenses 19 = 149 points

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Inhuman Appearance. Trickster. Vulnerability (anything that boils water also damages him, freezing attacks also Hinder, Immobilize and Paralyze him.)

 

[Davies]

The Meteor

To those who first witnessed him rescuing the Enterprise, a prototype supersonic transport constructed by Lockheed, in 1960, he must have seemed like the American Dream of that Space Age come to life -- a square-jawed, steely-eyed hero, quick to smile and quicker on the draw with his high-tech shooting iron. And, on top of all that, he was the brilliant creator of his own space ship, the living embodiment of the idea that simple human ingenuity would take everyone to the stars. To many, the Meteor seemed almost too good to be true.

They were right; he was. Even at the start, there were those who saw holes in his story, most notably the civilian name he gave -- Richard Swift -- and his absolute refusal to let anyone examine his spaceship. One of these early skeptics, Lieutenant Jerry Lawson, would plague Meteor throughout his career in the 90s, and it was with some hopes of vindicating his father that Lawson's son, Richard, began studying the history of the first age of heroes and publishing his research on the subject. He was never able to solve the riddle that Meteor posed, but his speculations came surprisingly close to the truth.

His real name was Bzz Tirgal (a family name which does, coincidentally, derive from a word for 'lightyear') and he was born on the planet Chirab sometime in the early 1920s. Chirab is a world whose best days are far behind it, and many of its children leave each year to seek their fortunes out among the stars. Bzz was one such, finding his way into a career as a self-employed scout shortly after he saw his twentieth year*, making money through the discovery of resources and the sale of the rights to same to organizations better equipped to exploit them. In the course of these adventures, he became an excellent pilot and proficient hand with an electrolaser, or zap gun.

The costs of his operation were greatly reduced when he discovered, on one planet, a dying space traveler who passed him the Power Prism that the latter had used, urging him to use it to good purpose. Not fully trusting the Prism, he used it as an inexhaustible fuel supply for his ship instead of as a weapon and armor. His reluctance to employ it as it was meant to be employed was mostly caused by his knowledge that it hadn't saved its previous owner, and he expected that using it in that way would just attract unwelcome attention. That said, he often found himself feeling guilty that he was using such a wonder for such a banal purpose.

The nearest his journey was supposed to take him to Earth was a pass through what Terran astronomers know as the Alpha Centauri star system, which he visited in what Terran historians knew as 1958 -- just as the hyperspace wave front from an event, roughly two years in the past, moved through it and disrupted many of his ship's systems. Surviving and making repairs, Bzz decided to investigate what had caused the event, out of curiosity and a sense of self-preservation, as well as some concern for the welfare of whatever life might be found in the system that had produced it.

He arrived in the Sol system not long before a second event occurred with a comparable disturbance to hyperspace. This time he was prepared, though, and better able to analyze the phenomenon. Something had arrived in the orbit around the third planet of the star, and Bzz decided to take a closer look at that planet. (His focus was on the planet, and so did not at that time discover the other alien spacecraft in hiding around Earth's moon.) Bzz was startled to find a species much like his own; it was almost like looking through a time-viewer at Chirab's past, for better or worse. A lot of what he saw disturbed him, and he was surprised to feel a sensation that he'd never felt when considering alien life -- sympathy.

And so, he joined the nascent paranormal culture, posing as a brilliant rocket scientist of Terrestrial origin, who'd invented his own space ship, and naturally set out to use this wonder to overcome criminals, as one apparently did. Most of his colleagues in the Institute suspected that he must not be telling the whole truth, but their apparent belief was that he had been hired to act as the public representative for the actual inventor of his ship. Regardless, he was well-respected by the general public, especially after he assisted in dealing with the earliest Martian raids, and even more so after he handed the Soviets a black eye by defeating their super-soldier, Chelovek-Meteor ("Meteor Man") and forcing (actually just persuading) him to change his alias to Krasnaya-Kometa ("The Red Comet".) The Meteor never told anyone that his name was actually a pun, as the word 'miitiyar' in the language he grew up speaking actually mean 'crazy individual'.

Never chosen as the leader of the Institute due to the suspicions about him, the Meteor nonetheless served as one of its mainstays right up until the end. He didn't directly confront Stardust during the Battle of Vietnam, instead using his ship to ferry as many civilians as possible out of the mad titan's way. In the aftermath, his critics had a field day with asking why he hadn't used his ship's weaponry to assault Stardust, and his responses seemed poorly considered and inadequate. His popularity at an all-time low, Bzz ultimately chose to leave the system, ostensibly to pursue Stardust.

Just what happened in the next quarter of a century remains a mystery in space. Sometime in the late 90s, his ship returned to Earth, without being detected, and came to rest in the Amazon jungle, where it would eventually be found by Victor Furtado. Ironically, just as Bzz Tirgal used it in a different way than its previous owner, so too did Victor choose to use it in a way different from Bzz's use -- in both cases, because it didn't seem to have worked out all that well for them.

The Meteor -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 2 | STA 3 | AGL 4 | DEX 5 | FGT 6 | INT 2 | AWE 2 | PRE 2

Powers:
Born Spacer: Movement 1 (environmental adaptation [zero-g]) - 2 points
Space Suit: Radio Communication 3; Flight 5 (120 MPH); Enhanced Flight 4 (1000 MPH), Only in microgravity; Immunity 10 (life support); Impervious Protection 6; Senses 5 (direction sense, distance sense, infravision, radio, ultravision); Removable (-10 points) - 38 points
Translator Circuit: Comprehend Languages 2 - 6 points
Zap Gun: Array (12 points); Easily Removable (-5 points)

• Blaster Setting: Ranged Damage 6 - 12 points
• Stunner Setting: Ranged Affliction 6 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) - 1 point

Advantages:
Defensive Attack, Equipment 18, Evasion, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Precise Shot 2 (Ranged/Concealment & Cover), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 3, Set-Up.

Equipment:
9 points of equipment as needed.
Spaceship: Size Huge; Strength 10; Speed 13 (air/space); Defense 8; Toughness 10; Powers: Arsenal (20 point Array: Ranged Damage 10, Move Object 10); Radio Communication 3; Concealment 2 (radio); Movement 2 (space travel 2) - 81 points

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+7), Athletics 5 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+8), Deception 8 (+10), Expertise: Galactic 6 (+8), Perception 9 (+11), Ranged Combat: Zap Gun 4 (+9), Technology 4 (+6), Vehicles 7 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 2)
Blaster Setting +12 (Ranged Damage 6)
Stunner Setting +12 (Ranged Fortitude 6)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 9, Fortitude 5, Toughness 9/3, Will 6.

Totals:
Abilities 52 + Powers 54 + Advantages 29 + Skills 24 + Defenses 14 = 173 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Power Loss (Zap Gun, must be periodically recharged in spaceship); Secret (alien.)

 

[Davies]

Moth Man and Papillion

Moth Man

Papillion

Louis Byron never expected to be any sort of a hero. Born just a bit before Black Friday, in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, to a mechanic's family, he was one of the top students in his high school. If his teachers had a complaint about him, it was that he lacked focus; instead of concentrating all his efforts on physics, or biology, or chemistry, he would flutter from one subject to the next as it interested him, demonstrating aptitude but not a deep interest. And yes, flutter was the word that they used.

After high school graduation, he began studies at Duke University, and his 'fluttering' continued as he switched majors repeatedly, to the dismay of his faculty adviser. His associates were even more baffled by his decision not to claim deferment as a student when his draft number was called, but he reported for duty nonetheless. He served as a radio operator in Korea, demonstrating a surprising amount of focus on his tasks, possibly as a result of his experiences in Boot Camp.

After his discharge in 1954, Louis returned home to West Virginia, where he obtained a teacher's certificate and began teaching high school science at the same school where he'd studied just a decade before. He was equally able in all the classes he was given to teach, and confined his tendency to flutter to his private experiments, conducted at home. He also acted as the head of the local Mr. Wizard Club, taking the opportunity to further educate the young people in town about science.

As the age of the supermen began, Louis found himself fielding a lot of questions about how some of the things that they did were possible, and admitting to a lot of uncertainty on the subject. But he never lost faith in the idea that science could provide the answers that he needed, and tried to communicate that to his students as well. In 1958, perhaps the biggest change in his life occurred, when fifteen-year-old Paula Kaminski joined the Mr. Wizard Club. She was an enthusiastic and talented student, and Louis rather enjoyed working with her. He told himself, of course, that he was just interested in her mind. (She would later claim that she didn't share that delusion.)

In 1960, Louis completed an experiment in metallurgy that produced a material which, he was startled to realize, seemed to be defying gravity. An examination of its properties suggested that he'd rediscovered the material which H.G. Wells had termed cavorite, which he'd always believed to be fictional. He was stunned by the implications of this, but planned to patent the material so that the entire world could benefit from its properties. He certainly didn't plan to use it to fight crime.

Fate, however, had other plans. When Paula failed to show up for the club meeting that week, Louis called her house to see what the matter was, and got a borderline hysterical response from her mother. Going there in person, he learned that Paula and her father had been kidnapped by some foreign agents who believed that Mr. Kaminski, who'd fled Poland in 1939, knew the secret location of some kind of buried treasure of their homeland. Louis' first impulse was to contact the FBI, but he hesitated at the thought that they'd put a higher priority on capturing the criminals than saving the lives of the victims. No, what Paula and her father needed was a hero.

He threw together the first Moth Man suit from scraps and the first batch of neo-cavorite that he'd created. It was basically just a flying harness, without any of the enhancements that he'd add later, and the mask was just a pilot's hood that he'd picked up somewhere. Nevertheless, he was able to locate the kidnappers and defeat them, despite their armaments, due mostly to their sheer surprise at being attacked by a superhero. He took Paula and her father back home, accepting the name that her mother gave him with a cough. (Moth Man? Really? Oh well.)

The problem now was that he couldn't release the neo-cavorite like he'd planned -- if he did so, it would be obvious to the criminals he'd just captured who had come after them, and he might be targeted by the underworld. So the only way to use his invention for the betterment of humanity was to keep on using it in the way that he'd already started. So Moth Man was here to stay, and he began fighting crime and rescuing people from that night forward.

When the Institute formed, he was a cheerful volunteer, but was stunned to be chosen, by the President himself, as the group's first leader! It was quite a vote of confidence, though it led to him finally starting to understand what other people called stress. Between his work as a teacher, a club leader, a private crime fighter, a researcher and leading the Institute, he was very much overworked. When the group met to elect a new leader in the summer of 1963, he was happy to decline the nomination, turning the group over to Doctor Freeze, who proved to be much more effective.

1963 was also when Paula came back into his life, having graduated from high school two years before and gone off to a finishing school. He was stunned by how beautiful she'd become since she left, and then completely floored by the fact that she knew he was Moth Man, and had since the very beginning. She wanted to join him in his activities, as his sidekick. After all, there were plenty of other women superheroes, so why shouldn't she be one too? Impressed by her conviction but fearful for her safety, Louis agreed to temporarily take her on as a partner -- in a strictly professional sense, of course, he quickly assured her.

She stared, then nodded, wondering as she did, as many in similar situations have, how someone so smart could be so dumb.

Papillion made her debut later that week, and Moth Man planned to propose her for membership at the next monthly meeting of the Institute. Unfortunately, that meeting, scheduled for November 25, was pre-empted by other events. As it turned out, Papillon didn't join the Institute until February of 1964, and her membership caused a certain amount of controversy, with the Cowl angrily arguing that his sidekick wasn't a member, and neither should anyone else's be. Nobody else quite understood his argument, but Papillion was accepted by a majority vote.

Over the next three years, Moth Man and Papillion worked well together, though not as much 'together' as Paula wanted. He remained oblivious to the fact that she was not one of his students anymore. 'Somewhat annoyed, she had a brief relationship with the Meteor, but decided that trying to make Louis jealous was the sort of behavior she'd be disgusted by in someone else. (Besides, something about that guy creeped her out as much as Stardust did.)

Matters finally came to a head in December 1967, when they happened to be in the air over Point Pleasant as the Silver Bridge collapsed. Hurling themselves into action, they managed to limit the deaths to less than a score, but Louis was still clearly haunted by those they didn't save. He finally turned to Paula for emotional support, and she allowed her own desire to control their actions. In the aftermath, Louis believed that he'd made a terrible mistake, but Paula eventually convinced him that she'd been in love with him for a very long time, which should make everything okay, right?

Despite that, it was a troubled relationship from the very start. Given that she hadn't wanted to make Louis jealous earlier, Paula found the jealousy he was now demonstrating whenever she so much as glanced at another man to be frustrating in the extreme. They went through several break-ups over the next four years, which also ended their crime fighting partnership, with every reconciliation starting it up again. Towards the end, Basilea noted that Paula had some unusual bruises, but was told that she'd just taken some hits in a fight earlier. The Hesperan considered intervening, but events outpaced her intentions.

During the Battle of Vietnam, the two of them followed the Meteor's lead in evacuating civilians rather than trying to fight Stardust. Unfortunately, as they were clearing one particular village, Papillion realized that there was still a child in the area that they'd left behind by accident. Moth Man insisted that they get clear, but Papillion went back to save even one more life, with her partner following her ... right into Stardust's path. He annihilated them and the child they were trying to save in an almost perfunctory manner.

In 2003, Point Pleasant unveiled a statue to Moth Man, with Basilea among the honored guests. She quietly asked when Papillion was going to get her statue, and was pleased when she was told that it was scheduled for 2004, and would be on the other side of the Ohio River. "Good," she said. "They were better apart than they were together." Just what she meant by that is known only to her.

Moth Man -- PL 7

Abilities:
STR 5/1 | STA 2 | AGL 4/1 | DEX 3 | FGT 3 | INT 6 | AWE 2 | PRE 1

Powers:
Moth Suit: Removable (-8 points)

• Artificial Muscles: Enhanced Agility 3; Enhanced Strength 4 - 20 points
• Body Armor: Protection 2 - 2 points
• Moth Swarm: Burst Area Visual Concealment Attack 4 - 12 points
• Sensors: Senses 1 (low-light vision) - 1 point
• Wings: Flight 6 (120 MPH), Winged - 6 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Equipment 2, Move-by Action, Set-up, Sidekick 18, Teamwork

Equipment:
Utility Belt (10 points of equipment as needed).

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10/+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+9), Deception 6 (+7), Expertise: Science 4 (+10), Investigation 5 (+11), Sleight of Hand 5 (+8), Stealth 5 (+9/+6), Technology 5 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +4/+1
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 5/1)

Defense:
Dodge 10/7, Parry 9, Fortitude 5, Toughness 4/2, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 38 + Powers 33 + Advantages 24 + Skills 21 + Defenses 19 = 135 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Distractible. Relationship (Papillion.) Secret Identity.

Papillion -- PL 6

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

Powers:
Moth Suit: Removable (-8 points)

• Artificial Muscles: Enhanced Agility 3; Enhanced Strength 4 - 20 points
• Body Armor: Protection 2 - 2 points
• Moth Swarm: Burst Area Visual Concealment Attack 4 - 12 points
• Sensors: Senses 1 (low-light vision) - 1 point
• Wings: Flight 6 (120 MPH), Winged - 6 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Move-by Action, Set-up, Teamwork

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+9/+6), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+6), Deception 4 (+6), Expertise: Popular Culture 4 (+6), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 5 (+8), Stealth 3 (+8/+5).

Offense:
Initiative +5/+2
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 3)

Defense:
Dodge 9/6, Parry 9, Fortitude 3, Toughness 3, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 26 + Powers 31 + Advantages 4 + Skills 14 + Defenses 15 = 90 points

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Relationship (Moth Man.) Secret Identity.

 

[Davies]

Quark

The beginnings of sizewarping technology occurred when Michael Newton, who would be credited with advancing it further than anyone before John Wright, was only an elementary school student, and are somewhat obscure. By 1938, a Dr. Alexander Thorul (called Thorkel in the fictionalized version of these events; his birth name remains unknown) had developed a method of reducing a biological organism's size to one-fifth of its size through exposure to certain radioactive gases. His ostensible goal was to reduce the impact of human beings on their environment; from his later actions, it seems much more likely that he had ambitions of being the only full-sized human being in a world of the diminished -- essentially, a god.

However, his process had a number of drawbacks, most notably the fact that it tended to kill its subjects. He brought in a small group of researchers to assist him in correcting this flaw, which they did. He rewarded them by making them the next experimental subjects, killing some of them when it became apparent that the process was still limited in that it would eventually wear off. He was himself killed before he could finish the job, and his victims returned home, with one of them passing information about their experiences on to the Office of Scientific Investigation, and another selling the story to Hollywood.

The Office investigated the remains of Thorul's laboratory and were able to reconstruct his process. It was added to the organization's files of potentially useful but also dangerous technologies, to be used only in emergencies. Whether or not it was ever actually employed to that end in the years that followed remains classified -- the one likely case, in 1953, involves an accidental release of the gas -- but, as with the Griffin Formula, research continued in the hope of making it more useful.

Michael Newton had been working for the Office of Scientific Investigation for four years, since shortly after he obtained his second doctorate, when he was given the assignment of continuing that research in 1960. He was only supposed to work on the subject for half a year before being rotated back to field work, but something about the subject fascinated him as nothing before it ever had. He spent a full year working on it, and achieved greater results than any prior researcher.

He identified the energy frequencies involved, so that the phenomenon could be projected as a ray rather than needing to be taken internally as a gas. This also facilitated its use on inorganic material -- objects could be reduced as well as living creatures. In addition, it could reduce the size of its target by a slightly greater amount. However, Newton's version of the process only lasted a minute, on average, making it less useful for espionage purposes than the original. However, Newton included in his final report speculation that a subject were to be subjected to the radiation on a constant basis, while wearing an emission device, he would be able to remain in a constant state of miniaturization, only reverting when the device shut off.

As it happened, that final report was not delivered to the Office, which had been shuttered before Newton reached his conclusion. It was instead presented to his current employers at the FBI's Department of R&D, who in turn passed on a summary of their project to the Director, who arranged a meeting with Newton. The Director complimented Newton on his work, and then asked the scientist what he thought of the recently created Institute. Reading the room correctly, Newton replied that it seemed potentially dangerous to the American people. The Director smiled and nodded, and laid out the details of Newton's first job for his new employers.

Quark, a superhero employing a Newton Field emitter in his costume as well as a pair of wrist-mounted Newton Beam projectors, made his debut a month later. He quickly became the first non-founding member of the Institute, just as planned, keeping an eye on the group's activities for the Bureau, the Director, and -- theoretically -- the American people as a whole. It didn't take him long to figure out that there were no real threats to the American people in the group, but he kept filing his reports all the same. When urged to 'find' (read manufacture) evidence that wasn't there, he reported unfortunate failures that might expose his infiltration if repeated, which kept his handlers pacified.

The mission lasted up until Quark's death in the Battle of Vietnam, where he was the first member of the Institute to fall in battle. He attempted to use an experimental version of the Newton Beam to reduce Stardust to a minute size in hopes that he could be more easily dealt with. Not only did it not have the desired effect, the device caused Stardust to increase to an even greater size, large enough that he crushed Quark beneath the sole of his boots with his next footfall.

In the aftermath, the Bureau attempted to train a new agent to use the Newton Field emitter, only to discover that it didn't have the same results for any other user,, acting simply as a portable self-directed Newton Beam. It has been suggested that Newton had tuned it to his own unique biology, or that he was unwittingly a superpower whose abilities required some technological mediation. Regardless, the sizemorphic field generator was put back on the drawing board, with numerous other scientists trying and failing to improve on Newton's work in subsequent decades ... until John Wright began his work on the subject.

Quark -- PL 8

Abilities:
STR 2 | STA 1 | AGL 3 | DEX 3 | FGT 4 | INT 7 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
Shrinking Suit: Continuous Shrinking 8 (-2 Strength, +4 Dodge, +4 Parry, -1 Speed, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation); Removable (-5 points) - 19 points
Shrink Ray: Ranged Shrinking 8 Attack, Independent, Extended 2, Increased Mass 6 (3200 lbs); Removable (-6 points) - 26 points

Advantages:
Defensive Roll 2, Evasion, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Trip, Inventor, Move-by Action, Skill Mastery (Technology), Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+6), Deception 6 (+8), Expertise: Science 5 (+12), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 0 (+2/-2), Investigation 4 (+11), Perception 4 (+7), Ranged Combat: Shrink Ray 5 (+8), Persuasion 8 (+10), Stealth 0 (+11/+3), Technology 5 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 2/0)
Shrink Ray +8 (Ranged Toughness 8)

Defense:
Dodge 10/6, Parry 10/6, Fortitude 4, Toughness 6/1, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 50 + Powers 45 + Advantages 9 + Skills 23 + Defenses 11 = 138 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Secrets (identity, actual loyalties.)