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

[Voltron64]

She isn't willing to believe that the Ghost Hunter has realized her intentions, and decided he doesn't want any part of any of it.

Because he figures she's going down a road that doesn't necessarily address the fundamental inequalities within human society and may just lead to the oppressed becoming the oppressors?

I assume that the late Yedokiteri Girumi was quite the inspiration to her as he was to so many others? (And I also get this feeling he was perhaps the most intelligent hero of his era, as smart as the dread Ranivorous if not even smarter?)

 

[Davies]

I assume that the late Yedokiteri Girumi was quite the inspiration to her as he was to so many others?

Very much so.

 

[Davies]

Dr. Rupert Maxwell, Jr.

It might seem strange that Argus feels a need to have an agent undercover inside the Morrison Institute, as the latter group is one of their major clients and they routinely share information with each other. Of course, they don't share all information, and Argus security personnel assigned to Morrison Institute facilities have occasionally been blindsided by experiments that they knew nothing about; naturally, this is something that they'd prefer to avoid. So when one of the Institute's top researchers contacted Argus with the offer to act as a mole, they were pleased to accept, though naturally suspicious of his motives.

More than a decade later, that suspicion has eased, and Dr. Rupert Maxwell, Jr., is a trusted ally of Argus, especially since he was well-positioned, as the Director of Morrison Europa, to become the handler for La Donna Universale, who frequently consults with the Institute. While he has not yet been able to discover much about her life before her debut as Italy's most noteworthy superhero, he has provided Argus with ample intelligence regarding her activities, especially in light of her recent invitation to join the Powerhouse. And he is very firm that she is not and cannot be a descendant of Leonardo da Vinci.

Dr. Maxwell is quite certain that he has never fathered any offspring.

In 1519, a great genius lay dying of the latest of a series of strokes that had already robbed him of the use of his right arm, and were now to rob him of all else. Despite all that he had accomplished in his life, he mourned the fact that he had failed to practice his art as he should have done, for the betterment of humanity and the glorification of God. Just as he expressed these sentiments, however, one of those attending his final hours, who called himself a traveler from a very distant country, asked Leonardo if he truly desired another chance to improve on what he had accomplished, rather than a peaceful rest. With what little strength he had left, da Vinci affirmed that he wished for more time, then lost consciousness, expecting to never again awaken.

In fact, he did, and in a completely different place and time. His acquaintance, one Bruce Rutherford, was a time traveler who had brought him to a distant future on a different planet, where his maladies and the damage of his old age could be repaired. (An inanimate biological duplicate was left behind to be buried in his place.) Restored to what Leonardo himself considered his physical prime -- his mid-forties, when he worked on The Last Supper -- the polymath travelled with Rutherford and his leman, Weena, on many of their journeys through time and space. He learned much, and accomplished much, but always knew that he would have to return to the world of his birth and fulfill his promise to use his art as it should be used.

As it happened, he finally did so when he and the Rutherfords paid a visit to Earth in the year 1972. After establishing a cover identity as scientist Dr. Rupert Maxwell (named after James Clerk Maxwell), he bid his friends farewell and set out to explore this particular era on his own. He soon found employment with the recently established Morrison Institute, teaching (while avoiding doing damage to history) and learning, just as he always had. He also befriended the founder of the institute, Dietrich Reid, as well as his niece and nephew.

Reid's sudden death in 1975 caught Maxwell by surprise. While older than his own apparent age, there had been no indications that his friend was sick, and something about the matter triggered his suspicions. Investigating the affair, he discovered that Reid's death had occurred at almost the exact moment that a certain baby girl had been born. Correlation was not causation, of course, but the fact that a number of other unexplained deaths of brilliant scientists occurred over that next year convinced him of the validity of this particular hypothesis. Shortly after attending Lucy Reid's wedding to Ryan Richmond in 1976, Maxwell fled that era, using one of Rutherford's cached time machines to jump forward more than three decades.

He emerged in 2008, to find world greatly changed, and the Mind-Eater (as he thought of her) in hiding. The Morrison Institute was still in operation, and he arranged to find employment there again, this time posing as Dr. Robert Maxwell, Jr., his (fictitious) son. (Many people within the Institute suspect that the two Dr. Maxwells are the same individual, though none have realized the full truth; people with unusual longevity are not that rare, after all.) Dr. Rupert has remained there ever since, serving as a member of the group's Board of Management while declining opportunities to actually lead, claiming that he prefers the laboratory and the workshop to the boardroom.

The Doctor is still working through the problem of the Mind-Eater. Something must be done, but he doubts that a direct assault will get anywhere. Working with La Donna has given him renewed hope that something can be done, as has a recent encounter he had with Dancer. He has begun to establish connections with the other handlers who work with members of the Powerhouse, as well as other superheroes of potential significance. He is clearly building something, but just what that might be is a design known only to him.

Dr. Rupert Maxwell, Jr. -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 2 | STA 5 | AGL 3 | DEX 4 | FGT 4 | INT 10 | AWE 6 | PRE 5

Powers:
Keen Senses: Senses 5 (analytical auditory, analytical visual, acute olfactory, acute taste, rapid sight) - 5 points
Master Linguist: Comprehend Languages 3, Quirk (takes at least a scene to pick up a new language) - 8 points
Rejuvenation: Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison); Regeneration 5 - 8 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Benefit 3 (millionaire), Connected, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Improved Defense, Jack-of-all-trades, Skill Mastery (Perception), Uncanny Dodge, Well-Informed.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+10), Deception 8 (+13), Expertise: Art 5 (+15), Expertise: Science 5 (+15), Insight 6 (+12), Investigation 2 (+12), Perception 8 (+14), Persuasion 8 (+13), Sleight of Hand 6 (+10), Stealth 8 (+11), Technology 6 (+16), Treatment 4 (+14), Vehicles 8 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 2)

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

Totals:
Abilities 78 + Powers 21 + Advantages 12 + Skills 40 + Defenses 18 = 169 points

Complications:
Responsibility, Or Something Like That--Motivation. Fear (Billie Zane.) Secrets (oh so many.)

 

[Voltron64]

A lot to process there, a lot.

1. He and Exelion definitely know each other (the latter even calls him Leo).
2. I definitely desire to know about Bruce Rutherford the Time Traveler, and it's good to know you're already on it.
3. It's clear to me that Darkwing has as much of his maternal grandfather in him as he does his paternal great uncle.
4. I think he's working on something designed to put down Billie Zane and if that is that case, he clearly needs to get a hold of her father's old Thinking Cap.
5. No Inventor Advantage?

 

[Davies]

1. They've crossed paths, and yes, Exelion does call him that in private. He doesn't care for the familiarity, but accepts that the other man is unlikely to change.
2.
3:
4: That's a possibility.
5: Just as before his rebirth, he prefers to work slow and get it right the first time, rather than use the short cuts that allow someone to quickly produce a device that works only a short while.

 

[Davies]

Haupoe of Dread Island

The Mahani people have lived on one small corner of Dread Island for thousands of years. Their ancestors likely came here as part of the great diaspora of the Polynesian peoples, sailing across the ocean in boats much like those that the Mahani still use for fishing, though they lose them (and their crews) too often to rely on such things. They also practice a small amount of agriculture and animal husbandry, but a good part of their food supply comes from hunting in the most dangerous natural environment on Earth. So they've gotten pretty good at this.

Haupoe is recognized and acknowledged as one of the best hunters of her generation, and the elders will privately admit that she is in the running to be the finest hunter that their people have ever produced. Unfortunately, she is also considered to be completely insane, and likely to spread her insanity to others. (Modern notions of mental health have not yet come to the Mahani, unfortunately.) So she lives somewhat apart from the rest of her people, although they are grateful when she brings back bounty from the rest of the island.

It's not the fact that she is a hunter and a woman that causes them to think her unbalanced; the Mahani do not associate the various professions with specific genders, as they can't afford that sort of stratification under their circumstances. Nor is it the fact that she has tamed -- or, she will insist, befriended -- a dreadwolf she has named Hakela, binding him to her with part of her own name, who accompanies her on her hunts. That's certainly odd, as it's something that no other Mahani has ever succeeded in doing, but there are stories of others trying and failing to do this in the past, told as cautionary tales.

What makes other Mahani consider Haupoe to be insane is the way that she is fascinated by the Ayole -- the outsiders who occasionally come among the people and do dumb things. The Mahani are not hostile towards the Ayole, as it's understood that it's not their fault that they have no understanding of the realities of the island. (If a group of Ayole were ever to engage in hostile actions towards the Mahani, though, any and all who are associated with that group would swiftly come under attack, with the goal being to drive them into the regions where monsters dwell and let them settle the issue.) The Ayole have nothing to teach the Mahani, their ways and the places that they come from are not at all important, and it's best to just let them do the dumb things that will inevitably get them killed and stay out of their way.

Haupoe, because she's crazy, doesn't agree with any of that. She wants to know about the Ayole, and would be interested in possibly leaving the island and seeing the places that these dumb people come from. Consequently, she is more than happy to act as a potential ally and information source about the island and the creatures who live there. She frequently associates with the Ayole who are part of the Morrison Institute, answering their questions to the best of her ability and acting as a guide and protector. (She might find the dumb things they do to be funny, at times, but she won't just stand back and let them get themselves killed.)

She's also interested in tying to make friends with the Forgotten Woman, who's not considered an Ayole because she actually listens to what she's told, though she hasn't had as much success there.

Haupoe -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Swift Movement: Leaping 3 (60 feet); Movement 1 (wall-crawling); Speed 2 (8 MPH); Swimming 2 (4 MPH) - 9 points

Advantages:
Animal Empathy, Assessment, Close Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 5, Evasion, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Set Up, Sidekick 20, Skill Mastery (Perception), Tracking, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Spear (Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical), Knife (Strength-based Damage 1, Improved Critical)

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+9), Athletics 6 (+8), Close Attack: Spear 3 (+9), Expertise: Survival 10 (+11), Insight 4 (+9), Perception 6 (+11), Stealth 8 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 3)
Spear +10 (Close Damage 6)
Knife +7 (Close Damage 4)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 8, Fortitude 5, Toughness 8/3, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 54 + Powers Advantages 40 + Skills 21 + Defenses 9 = 133 points

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

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Interested in Life Beyond the Island. Reputation (thought crazy by other Mahani.)

Note: Hakela is a dreadwolf, exactly as described in an earlier entry.

 

[Davies]

The Morrison Institute

Farrah Reid, Morrison Institute spokesperson

During the first age of superheroes, Professor Dietrich Reid was often thought of as the friendly face of mad science, frequently consulted by the press about the many strange phenomena of the day to offer a reassuring -- but never coddling or deceptive -- perspective about them. One of the leading researchers of the Office of Scientific Investigation, he'd turned down requests to work for other government agencies after the Office shut down, claiming that he'd had enough of the adventuring life. Instead, he settled in at Brown to conduct private research, notably on interdimensional physics, and answer frantic questions from excited young men and women from the newspapers.

That was the public view, at least. In reality, Reid never stopped going out into the field to personally investigate and analyze strange phenomena, simply doing it on his own dime instead of the taxpayers'. In this investigations -- Reid had scorching words for anyone who dared use the word 'adventures' in his presence -- he was often accompanied by Lucy and Peter Reid, the children of his younger brother. Given the sorts of things that he investigated, the lives of these young people were often put in danger, and so Reid chose to hire a bodyguard for them, one Donald Morrison, late of Her Majesty's Royal Navy. While their focus was always on answering the unanswered, this quartet often found themselves preventing the schemes of criminals along the way. It was an exciting time for all.

Tragically, the group was sundered in the aftermath of the Battle of Vietnam, in which Donald Morrison died after volunteering his services to assist the coalition. His death, and the destruction of the Battle, convinced Reid that however much he personally did to unveil the mysteries of the world, it could never be enough. Together with other reputable scientists, Reid founded what he named the Morrison Institute, in the memory of their friend. The newly-founded agency's first task was to begin studying the aftermath of the Battle, and, if possible, to start cleaning up the mess that was left.

Unfortunately, the tough times kept coming. Dietrich Reid was himself not long for the world, passing away quite suddenly in 1975, and for a while it seemed that the Institute was soon to follow its founder into the pages of history. In 1977, however, Peter Reid convinced the Institute's Board of Management to install him as its new Director, despite the fact that he had only narrowly graduated from college that very year and had neither business nor scientific expertise. Just how he convinced them is a well-kept secret, but the Institute began a new direction under his leadership, no longer studying phenomena but also persons, in hopes of finally answering the countless questions that the superpowers had raised.

Many of these inquiries had to be tabled in the next decade, with much of the Morrison Institute's efforts instead directed to performing research and development for the anti-Pythonian forces. Dr. John Black Wolf developed the first mass produced blaster weaponry while working at the Institute, and countless other scientists associated with it accompanied JSOT and other military responses to the Python threat, often risking and sometimes losing their lives in efforts to understand and defend against the enemy's weird science. Peter Reid, for whom the struggle was a profoundly personal one, was one of the pilots who flew the Constitution to Mars.

Nor did the Morrison Institute go into a slump in the aftermath of the Insurgency, but continued its quest to probe and uncover the truth that was often quite a bit out there, which has continued right up to the present day. There are Morrison Institute facilities on every continent (though the Antarctic one is a tiny lab in McMurdo Station) and on the Moon, within MoonBase Alpha. The group has friendly relations with the Powerhouse and numerous other superpower associations, and often works in conjunction with Argus.

One of the most active field researchers and spokespersons for the Morrison Institute in recent years has been Farrah Reid, the daughter of Peter Reid. (Those who remember her aunt have often commented that she's a dead ringer for her.) While only twenty-three years old, she has already completed her first doctorate, and looks to be well on her way to supporting the family business. In fact, she wants to do more than just support it, she intends to see the Institute go higher, further and faster. Her father flew to Mars, but stayed on the ship for the duration of her stay; Farrah intends to lead the party that returns to the Martian Surface for the first time in thirty years.

While Farrah prefers to use her brain to get herself and her colleagues out of dangerous situations, she's well aware that she can't out-think every possible threat, and has become quite skilled at tae kwon do and a crack shot as well. That said, she doesn't carry weapons with her, preferring to improvise them from available materials when needed. (This tendency really annoys her cousin Virginia, with whom she's had several recent run-ins.)

Farrah Reid -- PL 7

Abilities:
STR 0 | STA 2 | AGL 2 | DEX 3 | FGT 4 | INT 5 | AWE 4 | PRE 3

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (millionaire), Connected, Defensive Roll, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 6, Evasion, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improvised Tools, Improvised Weapon, Inventor, Languages 4 (many), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Well-informed.

Equipment:
Smartphone and 28 points of equipment as needed (usually including a vehicle.)

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+8), Deception 6 (+9), Expertise: Business 3 (+8), Expertise: Science 7 (+12), Insight 5 (+9), Investigation 4 (+9), Perception 3 (+7), Persuasion 5 (+8), Stealth 8 (+10), Technology 6 (+11), Treatment 2 (+7), Vehicles 6 (+9).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 0)

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

Totals:
Abilities 46 + Advantages 31 + Skills 33 + Defenses 16 = 126 points

Complications:
Discovery/Thrills--Motivation. Family (father.)

Unofficial Morrison Institute theme music. May or may not be the theme music I imagine any movie about blue-suited scientist-explorer-superheroes using.

 

[Voltron64]

That was the public view, at least. In reality, Reid never stopped going out into the field to personally investigate and analyze strange phenomena, simply doing it on his own dime instead of the taxpayers'. In this investigations -- Reid had scorching words for anyone who dared use the word 'adventures' in his presence -- he was often accompanied by Lucy and Peter Reid, the children of his younger brother. Given the sorts of things that he investigated, the lives of these young people were often put in danger, and so Reid chose to hire a bodyguard for them, one Donald Morrison, late of Her Majesty's Royal Navy. While their focus was always on answering the unanswered, this quartet often found themselves preventing the schemes of criminals along the way. It was an exciting time for all.

 

[Davies]

Yyyep, mixed with a dose of Carl Barks.

 

[Davies]

Bruce Rutherford and Weena

Bruce

Weena

Those who know of him sometimes call him the first human time traveler, but he sometimes wonders whether, in a world where effect can clearly precede cause, there can truly be anything that occurs 'for the first time'. He knows for a fact that there were those who travelled forward in time before he did, whether of their own volition or that of another. He believed, at one point, that he was the first to travel far into the future, and then return (however briefly) to his point of origin, but he has developed doubts about even that as his journeys have continued. In the dark and forgotten past of humanity, it is entirely possible that there were others who built mechanisms (or devised processes) by which just this sort of voyage was possible. Every new discovery may be someone else's old news.

Regardless, when Bruce Rutherford built his Time Machine between 1886 and 1888, he did so in the belief that there had never been such an engine before. To impress some dinner guests, he journeyed forward in time to what he believed to be the year 802,701, and discovered that the future history of humanity was far from the glorious triumph he had imagined. After some painful experiences, he journeyed further forward, encountering even further grim vistas, and then returned home a humbled and broken man. His guests, in the main, believed not a word of his wild tale -- understandable, as he found it hard to believe himself -- but in the end he would embark on another voyage, from which had not returned by the time his correspondent, Wells, related it as a serial novel.

That was how the story started. It hasn't ended yet. Rutherford's second journey demolished much of what he thought he'd learned in the first, as he learned that his estimation of the date was off by quite a bit, that he had voyaged even closer to a million years into the future, that the history of the Eloi and the Morlocks was vastly more complicated than his initial understanding of it. On this second journey to their era, he was able to rescue the Eloi whom he had befriended, Weena, from the fate he had unwittingly created for her, and brought her with him on his voyages. (He would later learn that she hadn't actually died in the fire, and would likely have lived a completely normal life if he hadn't interfered -- which was good, because had he changed history, he would have destroyed himself in the process.)

Weena came voluntarily, as she believed (and, despite everything, still believes) that next to this person was probably the safest place in all of reality. Given the opportunity to learn and grow, she gradually did so, and came to be Rutherford's partner and peer instead of an accessory and companion dependent on him. She was the one who ultimately persuaded him to transport examples of both the Eloi and the Morlocks (as well as other species of their era) back to his own time, where they were settled in the Saknussen Caverns beneath the Atlantic. They check in on them from time to time, watching how they continue to evolve.

The Rutherfords (as they are somewhat inaccurately called; their relationship has never been officiated) have often acquired other travelling companions in their voyages, and worked with other time travelers, most notably Exelion. While he generally strives to do good wherever he goes, they generally only act in self-defense in the course of their explorations, with occasional exceptions made when dealing with truly monstrous evils. They also venture much further into the future and the past than Exelion, who hasn't voyaged more than five millennia from his point of origin in either direction.

Both of them have undertaken some medical upgrades in the course of their adventures, ensuring that they remain young and healthy under most circumstances and can understand all spoken and written language. Another talent, one that they keep close to their respective vests, is that they can silently communicate with each other regardless of any distances or barriers between them. This is not a psychic ability -- indeed, Weena is completely unaffected by such phenomena, like all of her species -- and neither of them fully understand it. But it's useful for when they get split up, which tends to happen quite frequently.

One major difference between the two of them comes from their respective attitudes towards such dangers. Rutherford, having learned just how dangerous direct action can be, prefers to out-wit his opponents or devise solutions from the situations he encounters. Weena, to the contrary, has learned the value of having weapons at hand. She doesn't use them lightly, and prefers to use her dart gun instead of the knife she carries, but she'll use either if it will end a fight. She is still, and probably always will be, afraid of the dark and what could be in the dark.

Bruce Rutherford -- PL 8

Abilities:
STR 0 | STA 4 | AGL 2 | DEX 3 | FGT 4 | INT 7 | AWE 4 | PRE 3

Powers:
Rejuvenation: Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison); Regeneration 5 - 8 points
Strange Bond: Senses 1 (communication link with Weena) - 1 point
Translator Circuit: Comprehend Languages 3 - 9 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Connected, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 15, Grabbing Finesse, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improvised Tools, Inspire, Inventor, Jack-of-all-trades, Set-up, Taunt, Well-informed.

Equipment:
9 points of equipment as needed.
The Time Machine: Size Large; Strength 6; Speed 6 (air; 120 MPH); Defense 9; Toughness 7; Features: Remote Control; Powers: Linked Concealment 10 (all); Linked Insubstantial 4; Movement 6 (space travel 3, time travel 3) - 66 points

Skills:
Deception 6 (+9), Expertise: Galactic 3 (+10), Expertise: History 4 (+11), Expertise: Science 5 (+12), Insight 6 (+10), Perception 4 (+8), Persuasion 5 (+8), Sleight of Hand 4 (+7), Stealth 6 (+8), Technology 5 (+12), Vehicles 6 (+9).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +4 (Close Damage 0)

Defense:
Dodge 5, Parry 6, Fortitude 5, Toughness 6/4, Will 11

Totals:
Abilities 54 + Powers 18 + Advantages 31 + Skills 27 + Defenses 13 = 143 points

Offensive PL: 2*
Defensive PL: 6
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 7

Complications:
Discovery--Motivation. Relationship (Weena.) Secret (time traveler.) Stiff Upper Lip.

Weena -- PL 7

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

Powers:
Rejuvenation: Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison); Regeneration 5 - 8 points
Strange Bond: Senses 1 (communication link with Rutherford) - 1 point
Translator Circuit: Comprehend Languages 3 (understand, speak, read) - 9 points
Unearthly Child: Permanent Concealment 2 (mental); Immunity 20 (mental effects) - 24 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Animal Empathy, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 2, Evasion, Fearless 2, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Instant Up, Move-by Action, Quick Draw, Redirect.

Equipment:
Knife (Strength-based Damage 1, Improved Critical), Dart Gun (Ranged Affliction 5 [Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated], Quirk [not against targets with Impervious Toughness])

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+8), Athletics 6 (+5), Close Combat: Knife 3 (+8), Deception 5 (+7), Expertise: Galactic 5 (+6), Expertise: History 5 (+6), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 6 (+9), Ranged Combat: Dart Gun 5 (+9), Sleight of Hand 4 (+8), Stealth 6 (+10), Vehicles 2 (+6).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage -1)
Knife +8 (Close Damage 0)
Dart Gun +9 (Ranged Fortitude 5)

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

Totals:
Abilities 42 + Powers 42 + Advantages 18 + Skills 28 + Defenses 13 = 143 points

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

Complications:
Discovery--Motivation. Phobia (darkness.) Relationship (Rutherford.) Secret (time traveler.)