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

[Davies]

The Flying Fox

In 1961, twenty-two year old Graham Anderson had found himself becoming very concerned about the possibility that the phenomenon of the super-powered criminal, now a common occurrence in America and Europe, was going to spread to his native Australia. Gifted with a brilliant scientific mind and a well-trained body, he decided that the only thing to do about this disturbing prospect was to adopt the mantle of the superhero. But he knew that he would have to adopt an identity that could provoke fear in the superstitious and cowardly lot that were criminals, and as he was contemplating this, a flying fox flew in the window of his apartment, startling him. He decided to adopt this as his symbol.

Or at least that was the story that he told the Cowl and Masque, when they joined forces against 'Noose' Redd, an international assassin, four years into Graham's career as the Flying Fox. On hearing it, Masque observed that flying foxes were rather tiny and not particularly dangerous, and asked why Graham had been so startled. The other costumed crime-fighter stammered something about how it had just been very surprising, and then briefly mentioned his concerns about rabies, and then tried to steer the conversation in a different direction.

That incident illustrates some of the problems that the Flying Fox faced as Australia's first superhero. It seems plausible that the episode never actually happened, and that he chose the flying fox because he had already invented his cape, created from a special material of his own design, that allowed him to glide for limited distances. Not only did the supercrime epidemic that he supposedly feared never materialize, leaving him fighting a never-ending parade of mundane criminals -- who were genuinely dangerous to the citizenry of Sydney, where he was based -- he had chosen as a symbol one of the more harmless examples of Australia's wildlife.

Consequently, the Flying Fox found it difficult to be taken seriously by the majority of Australians, who are actually a skeptical and cynical lot, rather than superstitious and cowardly. While he helped many people, who were generally grateful for his assistance, the general public regarded him as something of a joke. It didn't help that his accomplishments were nowhere nearly as impressive as those of the American superheroes he tried to imitate. Even when he finally attracted masked villains, towards the end of the sixties, they turned out to have been perfectly normal crooks who'd been hired as distractions, and he looked like a fool in the press.

It seems likely that this was what inspired him to volunteer his services to assist during the Battle of Vietnam, working closely with the Grail Knight and apparently saving the British hero's life at the cost of his own. Ironically, his death actually generated a swell of popularity for the hero in his own country, which was frankly cynically exploited by certain individuals who portrayed him as a crusader against the influence of communism. It didn't last long, prompting those individuals to pursue other agendas, and the Flying Fox is not particularly well-remembered in Australia. Motley is known to have regarded him as an inspiration, but his recent changes in behavior have led some to believe he must have become disillusioned with the man's ideals ...

Flying Fox -- PL 7

Abilities:
STR 1 | STA 3 | AGL 4 | DEX 2 | FGT 5 | INT 7 | AWE 4 | PRE 3

Powers:
Glidersuit: Flight 2 (8 MPH), Gliding, Winged; Removable (-0 points) - 1 point

Advantages:
Benefit (Millionaire), Connected, Defensive Roll, Equipment 5, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Instant Up, Inventor, Jack-of-all-Trades, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Well-informed.

Equipment:
25 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+11), Athletics 8 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+9), Expertise: Science 2 (+9), Expertise: Streetwise 2 (+9), Deception 6 (+9), Perception 6 (+10), Persuasion 4 (+7), Technology 5 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +11 (Close Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 7, Parry 9, Fortitude 5, Toughness 5/3, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities 58 + Powers 1 + Advantages 22 + Skills 19 + Defenses 13 = 113 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Reputation (nobody takes him seriously.) Secret Identity.

 

[Voltron64]

Funny how it turns out the man was off by three and a half decades on when the supercrime epidemic would hit Australia.

 

[Davies]

Good point. I'll add a "in his lifetime" to the final text.

 

[Davies]

El Sabio

Much like the man who was his greatest inspiration -- Rudolfo Guzman Huerta, better known to much of the world as El Santo -- Jose Moreno was born in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. That's pretty much the only similarity that existed between them. Unlike Huerta, who followed three of his older brothers into the business, Moreno was the first member of his family to become involved in professional wrestling. He was also a member of the Ñuhmu people, or the Sierra Otomi as they were also known, who were -- in some parts of the world -- somewhat famous for their association with a certain well-known New York surgeon and philanthropist, noted for operating a trading company named for Hidalgo.

Jose was thirteen years old when he first saw El Santo wrestle, as part of the crowd which watched him defeat the Bulgarian for the NWA Welterweight Title. Cheering the man's alias, Jose realized that he had just witnessed what he wanted from life. Not just physical power, but the ability to use that physical power in the name of something greater than himself, just as El Santo had just symbolically defended Mexico against a hostile foreign nation. He began training to become a wrestler himself, pushing himself to the limits of his ability and then past it.

Jose made his debut in 1952, as El Sabio ("The Sage".) Again unlike El Santo, he was a technico from the very beginning, and always strove to conduct himself in a dignified and heroic manner, despite the way that this led to him being taken advantage of by the rudos he fought. This didn't bother him (much) as he firmly and sincerely believed that by living up to his principles, and striving to do right to all, he was winning in life regardless of the booked outcomes of his matches.

It's not really clear when El Sabio realized that his fanatical training had apparently granted him superpower levels of strength, speed and toughness. He carefully held back from demonstrating that full power, so it's certainly possible that he knew what he was doing quite a while before what is regarded as his first 'real' fight in 1957. That episode involved a Bulgarian mad scientist who had developed a method of reanimating the dead and decided to use Mexico City as a demonstration of this technique, for reasons that defied ready explanation. Having assured himself that the risen dead were mindless abominations, El Sabio felt no compunctions about using his full strength to defeat them and their sick master.

That was only the beginning of his legendary journeys, pitting his strength and skill against monsters, mad scientists and mobsters. He fought not only with power, but presentation as well, something that was rare in the early days of this first age. His exploits proved to be excellent fodder for the entertainment industry, though El Sabio usually ended up getting written out of the published accounts in favor of claiming these victories for El Santo. This didn't bother him (much) as he still felt a deep admiration for the man who'd inspired him as a boy, and hoped that acquiescing to this would help to inspire other young people. It did that, and if Santo was always more respected, Sabio was perhaps more beloved.

El Sabio first joined forces with the Meteor in 1967, when the Martian invasion of that year targeted Guadalajara. Demonstrating his remarkable astuteness, Sabio reached and (privately) voiced the conclusion that the Meteor's technology could not possibly be the product of any Earthly inventor. The Meteor didn't confirm that speculation, but he did state that El Sabio's alias was well-deserved. They worked together on a number of occasions after this, right up until the Battle of Vietnam. (He also had a somewhat adversarial friendship with Doctor Freeze.)

For the rest of his life, Jose was not sure how he'd survived that one, sometimes experiencing doubts that he had and suspicions that all that had followed was one long dying dream. He joined forces with Perseus and Basilea in the final assault, but was critically injured before he could put Stardust in the Boston Crab as they'd planned, forcing the other two to face him alone. The results are too well-known to be repeated here.

El Sabio continued his career for another decade after this, but there was much less joy in it then there'd once been. He finally met his end in 1982, when a bomb placed near the engine of his beloved Porsche 911 went off as he was starting it up. Jose actually survived this, but was in no condition to fight back when another Python assassin proceeded to fire five shots from a Charter Arms Undercover .38 Special revolver into him. (This individual will not be named here.)

El Sabio - PL 10

Abilities:
STR 6 | STA 8 | AGL 6 | DEX 4 | FGT 10 | INT 4 | AWE 3 | PRE 3

Powers:
Highly Mobile: Speed 3 (16 MPH); Leaping 7 (900 feet); Movement 3 (Swinging, Wall-crawling) - 14 points
Quick Recovery: Regeneration 8 - 8 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-Out Attack, Chokehold, Close Attack 4, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Fearless 2, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Interpose, Jack-of-all-trades, Language 2 (English, Spanish, others, [Otomi is native]), Move-by Action, Well-informed.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12), Athletics 6 (+12), Expertise: Wrestling 8 (+12), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 8 (+12), Investigation 6 (+10), Perception 8 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +10
Unarmed +14 (Close Damage 6)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 10, Fortitude 8, Toughness 10/8, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities 88 + Powers 22 + Advantages 20 + Skills 24 + Defenses 8 = 162 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Fame. Secret Identity. Show-off.

 

[Davies]

Dú Láng (I)

Most of what is definitely known about the first costumed protector of Hong Kong has been told in the account of his successor. What follows is conjecture and supposition, based on a handful of reports from the Hong Kong Police Department's archives which were, to put no fine a point upon it, stolen by Argus operatives shortly before the handover. It appears that more information about him was in the possession of British intelligence, but those files were destroyed in a mysterious fire in 1979.

Fa Hoi-yun, the most likely candidate to have been Dú Láng, was born in 1947 in Kowloon. From an early age, both he and his younger sister, Fa Ni-chen, were trained as acrobats and martial artists, with the intention that they would follow their parents into careers with the Cantonese opera, and possibly the Hong Kong film industry. However, it seems that Hoi-yun was a somewhat hot-headed child, frequently brawling in the streets, and acquiring his fair share of enemies.

In 1966, the consequences of that life style were made horrifically clear to him. Ni-chen was attacked by some people who had grudges against her brother. While she was able to defend herself to some degree, their intentions were clear, and she attempted suicide to preserve her honor. Fortunately, or perhaps not, she survived, though she was horribly scarred by the experience, to the point where her hoped for career as an entertainer was now a mirage.

Infuriated by this, and the fact that the authorities were unable or unwilling to discover the whereabouts of his sister's attacker, Hoi-yun decided to take matters into his own hands. To protect his remaining family, he adopted the masked identity of the Lone Wolf, Dú Láng, and began carving a swath through Hong Kong's underworld. While his initial intent was just to take vengeance on Ni-chen's attackers, Dú Láng gradually came to have a more general sense of anger at the suffering that the Triads, in particular, were causing.

In 1970, Dú Láng finally discovered the whereabouts of the last of his sister's attackers, who had supposedly become the personal agent of the legendary Lord of Strange Deaths. Having gained the assistance of agents of British intelligence during his campaign, Dú Láng infiltrated a secret martial arts tournament, discovering that its supposed mastermind had been dead for quite some time, and defeated his own personal nemesis in a final battle. Vengeance was at last his ... and it did not satisfy him at all.

He was apparently still sorting through his feelings about all of this when he died in the Battle of Vietnam, where he attempted to rescue the young Kid Wolf from Stardust's attack on him, only to die in the process. Despite suggestions that he had recovered from death, it seems likely that the disappearance of his body was simply an accident in the disposition of his remains. But this would not be the least of the mysteries surrounding him.

Dú Láng (I) - PL 7

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

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

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Assessment, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Fearless 2, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Languages 2 (English, others [Cantonese is native]), Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+9), Athletics 6 (+8), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+10), Deception 6 (+8), Expertise: Streetwise 7 (+9), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 7 (+9), Investigation 5 (+7), Perception 5 (+8), Stealth 6 (+9).

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 4)

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

Totals:
Abilities 44 + Powers 2 + Advantages 15 + Skills 29 + Defenses 11 = 101 points

Complications:
Justice--Motivation. Family (sister). Secret Identity.

Note: For those of you wondering why his defenses are low -- "Forget about winning and losing, forget about pride and pain: let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life! Do not be concerned with your escaping safely – lay down your life before him!" - from The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, by Bruce Lee.

 

[Voltron64]

In 1970, Dú Láng finally discovered the whereabouts of the last of his sister's attackers, who had supposedly become the personal agent of the legendary Lord of Strange Deaths. Having gained the assistance of agents of British intelligence during his campaign, Dú Láng infiltrated a secret martial arts tournament, discovering that its supposed mastermind had been dead for quite some time, and defeated his own personal nemesis in a final battle.

His half-Russian daughter on the other hand...

(Suddenly realize who Bravo might have been associating with and it also occurs to me that The Emperor himself might have had a mentor of his own.)

 

[Davies]

His half-Russian daughter on the other hand...

(Suddenly realize who Bravo might have been associating with and it also occurs to me that The Emperor himself might have had a mentor of his own.)

No comment.

 

[Davies]

Moby Dyck

Between 1810 and 1838, throughout the Pacific Ocean, whalers sought to prey upon and frequently themselves became the prey of an ancient albino whale dubbed Mocha Dick, after the Chilean island near where he was first sighted. A few years after the white whale ultimately fell to his hunters, a sailor from New York heard stories about his activities, most notably an account which claimed that a certain Quaker whaling captain had been so distraught that Mocha Dick had been slain by someone else that he committed suicide, and remembered these tales for a decade. In time, these stories, and reports that Mocha Dick was still at large in 1849, would inspire one of the world's greatest novels.

Mocha Dick had in fact died in 1838, but during his long life he'd had many offspring, some of whom inherited his albinism. It was one of these whales which was sighted in 1849, and yet a different one who was killed in 1902. And sometime in the 19th century, another of Mocha Dick's brood, accompanied by a harem of females, found his way to Dread Island. There, feeding on gigalodons and kraken, and exposed to other strange phenomena in the vicinity of the Island, the whales grew to enormous size and remarkable power. When, in 1956, this whale -- or leviathan, as he might more accurately be dubbed -- was first sighted by human visitors to the island, there was really only one name that he could be called.

Much like their forebear, leviathans in general are not, and Moby Dyck in particular is not, hostile towards or fearful of humans. They are still not particularly safe to be around, as they can easily and accidentally capsize most human vessels, and easily misinterpret accidental contact as an attack. Even if they will ignore humans in the water as too small to be a meaningful threat, that is very cold comfort to the drowning human who is also at risk from the other, much less passive animal life in the seas around Dread Island.

During Kthulu's third rising, in 2013, when the Great Old One used the kaiju of Dread Island as an army, several leviathans fell under its sway. Moby Dyck did not, and attempted to prevent his children from their destructive activities, demonstrating the ability that has been dubbed 'iceberging' by gigantologists. Through some unknown means, the daikaiju is able to transform sea water into a substance not unlike the 'infrawater' employed by Meddows-type freeze guns and expel it through his blowhole to create confining ice structures. However, he can only do this a limited number of times before his supply of this infrawater-like substance is exhausted.

At the time, having observed this, Snowfall imitated Moby Dyck's 'iceberging' to similarly confine the enraged leviathans, putting herself in some danger when the great whale seemed to misinterpret her actions as an attack on his progeny. Before he could harm the heroine, however, he apparently realized what had actually happened, and broke off the attack, taking advantage of the opportunity to replenish his supply. In the aftermath, the leviathans returned to Dread Island with their chief leading them, but Moby Dyck seemed to pause and regard Snowfall with what Nereus described as 'approval' ... or possibly awareness of a potential rival.

Leviathan -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 14 | STA 16 | AGL -2 | DEX 0 | FGT 4 | INT -3 | AWE 3 | PRE -2

Powers:
Aquatic: Immunity 2 (pressure); Immunity 2 (suffocation, Limited to half effect); Swimming 9 (250 MPH) - 10 points
Bite: Strength-based Damage 1 - 1 point
Gargantuan Size: Permanent Growth 14 (Strength +14, Stamina +14, Dodge -7, Parry -7, Intimidation +6, Stealth -14, Swimming +2); Impervious Toughness 12 - 52 points
Energy Absorption: Immunity 10 (cold effects); Regeneration 10, Source (cold) - 20 points
Senses: Senses 6 (extended accurate ultrahearing, extended low-light vision) - 6 points

Advantages:
Diehard, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Hold, Power Attack

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+7), Intimidation 3 (+7), Perception 4 (+7)

Offense:
Initiative -2
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 14)
Bite +7 (Close Damage 15)

Defense:
Dodge 2, Parry 4, Fortitude 17, Toughness 16, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 4 + Powers 89 + Advantages 6 + Skills 5 + Defenses 21 = 125 points

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Physical (no ground move, no sense of smell, no manipulators, can't talk to humans.)


Moby Dyck (Daikaiju Leviathan) -- PL 15

Abilities:
STR 16 | STA 18 | AGL -2 | DEX 0 | FGT 6 | INT -2 | AWE 5 | PRE -1

Powers:
Aquatic: Immunity 2 (pressure); Immunity 2 (suffocation, Limited to half effect); Swimming 9 (250 MPH) - 10 points
Bite: Strength-based Damage 1 - 1 point
Colossal Size: Permanent Growth 16 (Strength +16, Stamina +16, Dodge -8, Parry -8, Intimidation +8, Stealth -16, Swimming +2); Impervious Toughness 16 - 64 points
Energy Absorption: Immunity 10 (cold effects); Regeneration 20, Source (cold) - 20 points
Iceberging: Ranged Cumulative Burst Area 4 Affliction 15 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobile), Extra Condition, Limited Degree, Unreliable - 90 points
Senses: Senses 6 (extended accurate ultrahearing, extended low-light vision) - 6 points

Advantages:
Diehard, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Improved Critical 2 (bite), Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Power Attack

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+9), Intimidation 3 (+10), Perception 6 (+11)

Offense:
Initiative +2
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 16)
Bite +9 (Close Damage 17, Crit 18-20)

Defense:
Dodge 2, Parry 4, Fortitude 20, Toughness 18, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities 32 + Powers 191 + Advantages 7 + Skills 6 + Defenses 23 = 260 points

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Physical (no ground move, no sense of smell, no manipulators, can't talk to humans.) Responsibility (leviathans.)

 

[Voltron64]

In the aftermath, the leviathans returned to Dread Island with their chief leading them, but Moby Dyck seemed to pause and regard Snowfall with what Nereus described as 'approval' ... or possibly awareness of a potential rival.

Probably both.

 

[Davies]

Al-Mushtari the Gas Giant

The origins of the being that menaced the Arabian Penninsula for one month in 1970, dubbed al-Mushtari by the local press, with "the Gas Giant" added by Western newspapers, remain unknown. Lukas Ammanuel, alias Yedokiteri Girumi, who studied the creature more than any other observer, privately vacillated between two different theories. He publicly stated that he believed that it was an extraterrestrial being who had had travelled to Earth in some undocumented manner, most likely in a spacecraft that had crashed somewhere in the region that he was attacking. The fact that no such wreckage was ever found led him to privately speculate, in his personal journal, that the creature might have travelled to Earth through some sort of teleportation ... or that it was actually of extradimensional, rather than merely extraterrestrial, origin.

Regardless, after it had terrorized the people of Arabia for three weeks, a concerted effort was begun to deal with the monster, who was immune to all conventional weaponry. Concerned that al-Mushtari's rampage might eventually spread across the Red Sea to his own homeland, as well as for the suffering it had already caused, Yedokiteri Girumi offered his assistance. By quickly reviewing all information about the creature's attacks, he was able to develop a plan based on two factors -- first, that the creature was able to alter its size, and second, that it had recoiled on a few occasions when its electrical projections had rebounded back towards itself.

Equipped with a lightning gun of his own creation, Ammanuel proceeded to drive Al-Mushtari into a trap that exposed it to a different device which compressed it into a small cube of incredibly dense material, rendering it immobile and helpless, though every bit as impervious to physical harm as it had ever been. Yedokiteri Girumi warned the governments of the region that he believed that this process would eventually wear off, though he was uncertain when it would happen. But he offered his personal assurance that when it happened, he would return to deal with the monster again.

A year later, with Lukas Ammanuel among the casualties of the Battle of Vietnam, that reassurance ceased to be reassuring. The decision was made at the highest level of the House of Saud that al-Mushtari could not be allowed to regain its mobility in their country, and so must be transported elsewhere. Aware that the United States had had some success in disposing of unusual threats, such as the Protean entity and the gerolds, on Dread Island, they politely requested that this be done again. And it was.

Just when al-Mushtari regained its mobility is not positively known. It was first sighted in its current form on Dread Island in 1993, but monitoring of the island was very sporadic in the 1980s owing to the Pythonian Insurgency. The creature's periodic rampages across the island have generally been dealt with by its native creatures, many of which possess powers that can harm it, further documenting what Ammanuel described as a very cowardly streak in the creature. While it has ventured forth from the Island a few times since, Chokyojin and other superheroes have usually sent it back in defeat, and it has not left the island since 2009. It has been seriously suggested that its first and only encounter with Bàofēngyu terrified it to the point where it has no interest in confronting her again.

Al-Mushtari the Gas Giant -- PL 13

Abilities:
STR 15/9 | STA 18/12 | AGL 7 | DEX 5 | FGT 8 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 0

Powers:
Air Elemental: Affects Corporeal on Strength 15; Concealment 6 (auditory, visual), Passive; Continuous Flight 8 (250 MPH); Immunity 3 (starvation & thirst, suffocation); Permanent Insubstantial 2 - 58 points
Far-Seeing: Senses 5 (extended 3 darkvision) - 5 points
Variable Mass: Permanent Growth 8 (Strength +8, Stamina +8, Intimidation +4, Speed +1, Dodge -4, Parry -4, Stealth -8); Growth 6 (Strength +6, Stamina +6, Intimidation +3, Dodge -3, Parry -3, Stealth -6) - 42 points
Weather Command: Array (38 points)

• Lightning Bolts: Ranged Mulitattack Damage 12, Indirect 2 - 38 points
• Precipitation: Environment 7 (1/2 mile; impede movement 2, visibility 2) - 1 point

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Evasion 2, Fearless 2, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Startle, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+11), Intimidation 4 (+11/+8), Perception 8 (+10), Ranged Combat: Lightning Bolts 7 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +11
Unarmed +11 (Close Damage 9)
Lightning Bolt +12 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 12)

Defense:
Dodge 8/11, Parry 8/11, Fortitude 20/13, Toughness 18/12, Will 6.

Totals:
Abilities 58 + Powers 144 + Advantages 9 + Skills 11 + Defenses 19 = 183 points

Complications:
Destruction--Motivation. Cowardice. Nonverbal.

Note: I always kind of felt a bit annoyed that Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster wasn't about something actually gaseous ...