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

[Davies]

Tiankui/天魁

Tiankui is one of the names for the star known as Alpha Ursae Majoris in western astronomy. In the Chinese classic known as Water Margin, the 108 stars associated with that constellation were associated with an identical number of the bandits of Mount Liang, said to be the reborn forms of 36 Heavenly Spirits and 72 Earthly Fiends. Tiankui was associated with their eventual leader, Song Jiang, portrayed in the text as an honest magistrate forced into banditry by corrupt opponents. While he was victorious and eventually redeemed, his enemies put him in a position where he was forced to drink poison or become a traitor once again. He chose the former.

All this was well known to Song Meng, who had studied the classics and annals since he was a child. If anyone had suggested that his family name meant that he had some connection to this legendary rebel, he would have chuckled, shook his head, and perhaps tried to educate the poor fool about the difference between verifiable history and historical romance. The Song family was immense and ancient, and his branch could only trace its 6,history back less than five hundred years. As for his personal inclinations, Meng was content to use his abilities -- both his sharp intellect and the extraordinary talents he had discovered in his early adolescence -- to help people quietly, without drawing attention to himself.

Alas, contentment was not to be his lot. Forced into action during the events of 2006, Meng managed to keep his identity secret while still protecting other superpowers and civilians from the forces of Saturn. In the aftermath, he spent a nervous week wondering whether his precautions had failed before the government announced its new policy of toleration for independent superpower agents, at which point he let out a sigh of relief ... that died in his lungs as he realized the trap that was being built.

These new superheroes would be tolerated just long enough for the state to learn enough about their weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and then those traits would be exploited to the fullest. Organization was going to be needed. And so he began to create the Sīfa Zhuānjiā, embracing his connection to Song Jiang under the alias Tiankui. (At least, that is the story he usually told. Once, however, when asked why he had been so sure about the intentions of the state, he remarked that he had received an unmistakable warning about them, but declined to elaborate what he meant by that.)

For seven years, Tiankui led the Sīfa to the best of his ability, aided by his ability to cloak himself and others from other attempts at psychic surveillance. But no luck endures forever, and he was finally put in a position where he had to choose between his own ability to escape and that of his people. He did not hesitate and was placed under arrest, brought to a secret facility inside the Beijing null field. There he was given another choice -- he could either accept psychic surgery to turn him into a loyal servant of the government or, in honor of his legacy, drink poison. Here, he hesitated, but chose the poison.

"That was the wrong choice," said his interrogator, drawing a pistol "You're supposed to arrange for 'Li Kui' to die with you, remember?" Before he could answer that there was no 'Li Kui'-equivalent in the Sīfa, the gun went off, and Song Meng died with a vague sense of amusement that people assumed he was following the classics so closely.

Tiankui -- PL 11

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

Powers:
呼保義/"Protector of Righteousness": Selective Burst Area 3 Affects Others and Self Concealment 2 (mental senses) - 14 points
Shielded Mind: Impervious Will 12, Limited to mental effects - 6 points
Telepathic Communication and Probe: Selective Area Mental Communication 3 (regional); Cumulative Mind Reading 11 - 41 points
Telepathic Defenses: Enhanced Advantages 14 (Close Attack 3, Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 2, Seize Initiative, Uncanny Dodge), Limited, Only against sapient opponents without Immunity to Mental Effects or Impervious Will 12; Enhanced Defenses 16 (Dodge 8, Parry 8), Limited, Only against sapient opponents without Immunity to Mental Effects or Impervious Will 12; Senses 2 (acute psychic awareness) - 17 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Close Attack 3, Contacts, Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Fascinate (Persuasion), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 2, Inspire 2, Jack-of-all-trades, Leadership, Seize Initiative, Uncanny Dodge, Well-informed.

Skills:
Deception 6 (+11), Expertise: Civics 6 (+13), Expertise: History 5 (+12), Insight 8 (+13), Investigation 5 (+12), Perception 6 (+11), Persuasion 8 (+13), Treatment 4 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +10/+2
Unarmed +7/+4 (Close Damage 2)

Defense:
Dodge 14/6, Parry 14/6, Fortitude 5, Toughness 8/3, Will 15

Totals:
Abilities 62 + Powers 78 + Advantages 8 + Skills 24 + Skills 18 = 190 points

Offensive PL: 11
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 10
Skill PL: 8

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Hunted by Authorities. Secret Identity.

 

[Davies]

Kishinami Monoka (revised)

In one version of events -- the one that no one else seems to remember -- soon after her sixteenth birthday, Monoka overheard Megan Excalibur talking with one of the higher ups about the prospect that Monoka would eventually succeed her, and expressing the hope that this "eventually" was a long way off. Stung by this apparent lack of confidence, Monoka threw herself into studying and training so that she could not only become as good of a leader as Megan, but a better one. In the process, she put together the most comprehensive analysis of the Shēngxiào that had yet been assembled, to the point where even some of the best experts on the subject admitted that her research had uncovered facts that they had never realized had to be true. But before she could receive the plaudits she deserved from Megan, everything changed.

In the other version of events -- the one that everyone else remembers -- there was no conversation like that. Monoka decided that she had to take things seriously without such an impetus, even before she turned sixteen, because Motoko was never going to do it. She was able to give her studies more time, but they also had less intensity. So when she finally presented her analysis, it impressed fewer people and many of its conclusions were things that had already been realized. The one person whose approval and admiration she wanted the most had never existed, and would never give it. And the only other person who remembered her was a complete psychopath.

"Why me?" Monoka asks, on a fairly daily basis, though usually only when she hopes no one can hear her.

Well, it seems unlikely that she will ever get an answer to that question, but she has still be put in the position of authority that Megumi -- no, that Motoko once held. By and large, she lets the other Ghost Sweepers do their jobs without interfering or directing them, focusing her efforts on dealing with the bureaucracy so that they can do those jobs, and developing strategies that put them in the places where those jobs will be most effective in answering the threat that Diorite continues to pose. She has even met the enemy, face to face and eye to eye. It was a horrifying experience, and she was honestly glad that Motoko was there to keep them both alive.

But she has not yet told her predecessor, or anyone else, that there was something hauntingly familiar about the Empress of Black Jade.

Regardless, she continues her studies and training, even though they have gotten her what she supposedly wanted. She is currently seeking to learn hand-to-hand combat techniques from one of the first adversaries that the Ghost Sweepers ever fought, while also improving her knowledge of history. Perhaps the most significant lacunae in her knowledge, and one of her greatest weaknesses, is a lack of knowledge about magic. But this is a deliberate choice on her part, as she would find it easy to gain that knowledge -- and the power that came with it -- if she wanted to do that. Monoka has chosen otherwise, resisting the temptations involved, and still viewing herself as someone blessed by greater powers rather than commanding them.

Kishinami Monoka -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Flames of the Vermillion Bird: Array (17 points)

• Flame Arrow: Ranged Damage 8, Quirk (requires existing open fire or high temperatures) - 17 points
• Flame Breath: Cone Area Damage 8, Quirk (requires existing open fire or high temperatures) - 1 point
• Flame Shapes: Ranged Shapeable Area Damage 3, Concentration Duration, Selective, Quirk (requires existing open fire or high temperatures) - 1 point
• Scrying: Remote Sensing 8 (visual; 250 miles), Quirk (requires existing open fire) - 1 point

Pristine Memory: Feature 1 (chronal memory) - 1 point
Touched by No Lesser Flame: Immunity 10 (fire effects) - 10 points
Wings of the Vermillion Bird: Enhanced Advantages 4 (Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Defense, Move-by Action); Flight 5 (60 MPH); Reaction Damage 3 - 22 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Extraordinary Effort, Favored Enemy (Shengxiao), Improved Defense, Leadership, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Teamwork.

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6), Expertise: Civics 6 (+8), Expertise: History 4 (+6), Expertise: Popular Culture 4 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 4 (+6), Expertise: Theology & Philosophy 7 (+9), Insight 5 (+8), Perception 4 (+7), Persuasion 6 (+8), Ranged Combat: Flames 6 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +3 (Close Damage 0 and Reaction Damage 3)
Firebolt +7 (Ranged Damage 8)
Firebreath -- (Cone Area Damage 8)
Fire Shaping -- (Ranged Shapeable Area Damage 3)

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

Totals:
Abilities 34 + Powers 53 + Advantages 8 + Skills 25 + Defenses 18 = 138 points

Offensive PL: 8
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 4

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Power Loss (all, if Suzaku is disappointed.) Prejudice (minor.) Secret (government agent.) Sly and Sarcastic, Beneath an Air of Sanctity.

Do you feel so frustrated
Frightened and feared
Answer my question
Why me, why me, why me
Why me, why me, why me?

 

[Davies]

Amnar

The origins and true nature of the being who calls himself Amnar are not positively known. He might be a Titan -- though he is much more humanoid than most of them -- or an Olympian -- though if so he is unknown to the survivors of that people -- or one of the "rising stars" of Cherab -- though, again, he is unrecognizable to those who should know of him. He himself will offer a simple and straightforward account of himself. He is a god, and will reward those who worship him while punishing those who offend him.

The earliest records of encounters with Amnar can be found in the histories of Anacreon, contained in the databases of the Secret Sanctuary. Soon after the arrival there of the Dhakimite explorers who settled the uninhabited planet, Amnar descended from the heavens to present himself to their leaders and offer them the opportunity to begin worshipping him. The Dhakimites were skeptical of his claims to divinity, but they recognized that they were dealing with a dangerously powerful entity and one who had them at a disadvantage. They were scientists and scholars, not soldiers, and in no position to resist his demands.

So one of them, named Mahan Ul-Na (supposedly the founder of the Na family) came up with a plan to surrender to those demands in a way that benefited themselves. The colonists agreed to worship Amnar, and followed his directions when it came to ceremonial observances of his grandeur. However, they also made many demands of their new god, always expressed in the most flattering ways possible, which forced him to use his powers to an excessive degree. Much of the infrastructure that would eventually allow them to endure being abandoned by their home world was created in this fashion.

Ultimately, Amnar declared that he had exhausted himself with these demands, and would have to withdraw to the source of his power -- the sun orbited by Anacreon -- in order to rest and recover. The Anacreonites begged him to stay, but agreed to continue worshipping him in his absence when he insisted that it had to be done. And they did, even after their leaders determined that Amnar had entered a dormant state in a close orbit to the sun rather than merging with it. The ceremonies continued right up until the death of Anacreonite civilization, though the number of their observants dwindled over the centuries.

Quite recently, Amnar emerged from that dormant state and returned to Anacreon to check in on his followers, and was understandably horrified to discover their extinction. However, he was able to discover from fragmentary records that Anacreonites had been sent away from their world before the end, towards a planet some 27.8 light years distance, and decided to voyage there himself to make himself known to his followers. As he has gotten closer to Earth, he has intercepted signals from the planet that have informed him about the culture among which those followers live, and he has decided to accept their worship as well.

Assuming that this benevolence is rejected, he will likely be wroth. If successfully challenged, however, he will offer an attempt at face-saving surrender. This will involve him offering to imbue his powers into a human vessel, who will then act as his agent and messenger to demonstrate the benefits that he can bring to humanity while he rests and recuperates. This "imbued servant" will pose as a superhero, learning the powers and weaknesses of those who opposed their master and relaying that information to Amnar, so that he is better informed and able to triumph when at last he returns. Of course, if that agent should fall in battle, Amnar will have the perfect excuse to return immediately ...

Aside from his desire to be worshipped, happiness when that desire is met and anger when it is not, Amnar is a fairly simple being. His desires do not extend to having sacrifices -- whether material or living -- offered to him, as he has no need for such things. He only wishes to be acknowledged as the most important being in reality, and hear praises given to his name. That said, he has a somewhat volatile temper, and anything that causes harm to any who worship him, or might do so, might easily draw down horrific retribution from him. Or it might not. There is no way of knowing.

The scheme that the Anacreonites used will not work a second time. He does not understand that he was deceived, but does realize that using his powers so freely resulted in him sleeping through the loss of his followers. It will not happen again.

Amnar -- PL 14

Abilities:
STR 8 | STA 12 | AGL 7 | DEX 2 | FGT 7 | INT 8 | AWE 6 | PRE 8

Powers:
Creature of Light: Environment 2 (bright light); Immunity 21 (aging, energy damage, life support); Impervious Toughness 12; Linked
Continuous Insubstantial 3 (affected by dark energy); Linked Reaction Damage 8, Affects Corporeal - 97 points
Energy Sheath: Enhanced Defenses 12 (Dodge 6, Parry 6); Flight 18 (500,000 MPH); Movement 2 (space flight 2) - 52 points
Starlight: Array (40 points)

• Blast of Light: Ranged Damage 18, Precise, Split Attack 2 - 1 point
• Burst of Light: Burst Area 2 Damage 13 - 1 point
• Disintegrating Blast: Linked Ranged Damage 8; Linked Ranged Weaken Toughness 8, Affects Objects - 40 points
• Imbue With Light: Heroic Summon 12, Limited to Available and Willing Subject, Mental Link - 1 point
• Light of Creation: Burst Area 2 Cumulative Affliction 13 (Resisted by Fortitude; Visually Impaired, Visually Disabled, visually Unaware), Limited to One Sense - 1 point
• Solid Light: Perception Range Move Object 13 - 1 point

Stellar Senses: Senses 6 (hyper-extended acute energy awareness, acute radio) - 6 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-all-trades, Move-by Attack, Power Attack.

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+14), Expertise: Galactic 4 (+12), Expertise: Science 5 (+13), Insight 3 (+9), Intimidation 4 (+12), Perception 5 (+11), Ranged Attack: Starlight 8 (+10)

Offense:
Initiative +11
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 8)
Basic Blast +10 (Ranged Damage 18)
Disintegrating Blast +10 (Ranged Damage 8 and Weaken Toughness 8)

Defense:
Dodge 16/10, Parry 14/8, Fortitude 12, Toughness 12, Will 12

Totals:
Abilities 116 + Powers 200 + Advantages 6 + Skills 18 + Defenses 10 = 350 points

Offensive PL: 14
Defensive PL: 13
Resistance PL: 12
Skill PL: 9

Complications:
Desire for Worship--Motivation. Easily Flattered. Unfamiliar With Terran Culture.


Imbued Servant -- PL 12

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

Powers:
Creature of Light: Environment 1 (bright light); Impervious Protection 8; Linked Insubstantial 3 (affected by dark energy); Linked Reaction Damage 4, Affects Corporeal - 49 points
Energy Sheath: Enhanced Defenses 12 (Dodge 6, Parry 6); Flight 9 (1000 MPH) - 30 points
Gleam of Starlight: Array (30 points)

• Blast: Ranged Damage 15 - 30 points
• Burst: Burst Area 2 Damage 10 - 1 point
• Dazzle: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 15 - 1 point

Stellar Senses: Senses 2 (communication link with Amnar, energy awareness) - 2 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Improved Initiative, Move-by Attack, Power Attack

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+10), Deception 6 (+9), Perception 6 (+9), Ranged Combat: Light 5 (+9)

Offense:
Initiative +5
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 2)
Blast +9 (Ranged Damage 15)

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

Totals:
Abilities 46 + Powers 109 + Advantages 4 + Skills 11 + Defenses 6 = 180 points

Offensive PL: 12
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 5

Complications:
Loyalty--Motivation. Only Vague Memories of Previous Existence.

 

[Davies]

The Shootist

Masked

Unmasked

Switzerland went untouched by the Pythonian Insurgency. While it was not the only nation to avoid subjected to any attacks on its government, infrastructure or populace during that decade-long conflict, it was perhaps the largest one. As a result, a conspiracy theory arose which suggested that the Swiss banks had purchased the safety of their nation by paying protection money to the Pythons. This is regarded as absurd by most serious historians of the conflict, but the full account of the logistics of the Insurgency has yet to be written.

Lars Jaggi was dimly aware of these rumors when he reported for compulsory military service in 1993, but he gave them little enough thought. The Insurgency was over, after all, and the wicked folk who had caused so much havoc were facing their just desserts. During basic training, Lars demonstrated some unusual talents that led to his recruitment by the Grenardiers, which trained them. He never considered himself any sort of "super-soldier", just a bit more accurate and perceptive than most of his fellows.

After taking part in the defense of his nation during the attack by Cerebron, and serving a total of ten years of active duty, Sergeant Jaggi returned to civilian life and took up a career managing a mountain hostel in Olivone. By all accounts, he was satisfied with his life. And then, in 2006, the heirs to the Insurgency made their existence known, and this time Switzerland was not spared, though the damage was relatively minor -- though it notably included a certain hostel and a number of people who worked there.

In the aftermath, Jaggi was surprised to be contacted by an elderly man who identified himself as one of the principle managers of a certain Zurich bank, who had an interesting story to tell him. Essentially, the rumors were true; a quarter century earlier, several of the major banks in Switzerland had been offered the opportunity to buy safety for Switzerland at a not terribly onerous price. They had taken it, and had not even been betrayed at that time, so the old man did not truly regret what they had done.

But the old agreement no longer applied, clearly, and the old man was now minded to make some response. That was where Jaggi was to come in; his talents, trained by the military, would be ideal for the purpose of hunting down these enemies of civilization. The old man would covertly sponsor him, though he would disavow any knowledge of his activities if Jaggi were to be captured by the authorities. He would be able to provide modern weapons --

"A crossbow," interrupted Jaggi.

"Excuse me."

"I'll just need a crossbow. Anything more would be overkill." And then Jaggi fixed his would-be sponsor with a ferocious glare. "And I will always, always, be carrying a second bolt in my belt, against the day that you steer me to harm any innocents."

As it would turn out, he found himself using an advanced version of a crossbow that employed railgun technology to launch its bolts, but since he has fought numerous dangerous foes above and beyond his enduring grudge against Saturn. The Shootist (or der Schützen) has rarely worked with other superheroes, though he has been assisted by and assisted Tommy Heliogabalus on several occasions, and he was somewhat reluctantly accepted by the defenders of Europe during the recent invasion. His body count is not as high as most people imagine, for he has sometimes assisted people who need to escape from Saturn or other criminals in faking their deaths.

After nearly fifteen years of this never-ending battle, Lars Jaggi is starting to recognize signs of burnout in himself. He wants to retire and go back home, but is unsure if there is anything left for him to go back to. The old man passed away a long time ago, to be succeeded by one of his sons, who has hinted that he does not really want to support this war for too much longer. But Saturn is acting more blatantly than ever ... and someone still needs to do what must be done. Or at least, that is what helps him to sleep ... sometimes.

The Shootist -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 3 | STA 3 | AGL 4 | DEX 6 | FGT 5 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 0

Powers:
Crossbolter: Array (10 points), Easily Removable (-4 points)

• Basic Bolt: Ranged Damage 5 -- 6 points
• Capture Bolt: Ranged Affliction 5 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobile), Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point
• Taser Bolt: Ranged Affliction 5 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapicated) - 1 point

Sensory Enhancements: Senses 3 (extended vision 2, low-light vision) - 3 points

Advantages:
Defensive Roll, Diehard, Equipment 6, Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (crossbolter), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Precise Attack (ranged/cover), Ranged Attack 7, Startle, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Body Armor (Protection 3) and 27 points of gear as needed for any given mission, often including a swingline (Movement 1 [swinging]).

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10), Athletics 8 (+11), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+9), Deception 6 (+6), Expertise: Military 5 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+9), Expertise: Survival 8 (+9), Insight 4 (+7), Intimidation 8 (+8), Perception 8 (+11), Stealth 5 (+9), Technology 5 (+6), Vehicles 1 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 3)
Basic Bolt +13 (Ranged Damage 5, Crit 18-20)
Capture Bolt +13 (Ranged Affliction 5, Resisted by Dodge, Crit 18-20)
Taser Bolt +13 (Ranged Fortitude 5, Crit 18-20)

Defenses:
Dodge 10, Parry 9, Fortitude 6, Toughness 8/6/5/3, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities 50 + Powers 11 + Advantages 24 + Skills 38 + Defenses 18 = 141 points

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

Complications:
Justice--Motivation. Hunted by the Authorities. Secret (identity and sponsors.)

Revenge bears never fruit. Itself, it is
The dreadful food it feeds on; its delight
Is murder -- its satiety despair.
-- from William Tell, by Friederich Schiller.

 

[Davies]

Megatragan

Haupoe had always feared this day might come. Once again, she had been guiding the people who called themselves the Morrison Institute through some of the safer parts of Dread Island, and, once again, one of the Ayole had done something dumb that drew down the attention of one of the beasts on them. Nothing surprising, but then, while leading them in their frantic escape, Haupoe had done something she recognized as being as foolish as any Ayole, which left her separated from both the silly people and Hakela, with the beast choosing to pursue her rather than them.

She had fled as best as she could, but the beast was so much faster -- though incredibly small, even for a newly hatched beast -- that it had soon caught up to her. She turned to face it instead, dagger in hand, glaring up at the snout. "If this be my day to die, you shall find me no easy meal, monster!" Haupoe cried out. "Know that you face Haupoe, daughter of Hoku--"

"Could you stop shouting?" shouted the beast, in the Ayole language called Inglits or something like that, while waving its forearms beside its head. "I don't even know what the hoo-hah you're saying, but whatever it is, you don't gotta say it at the top of your lungs, right?"

Haupoe, like most Mahani, tended to avoid taking long pauses to reflect on surprising events. (Admittedly, surprising events on Dread Island tended to be immediately fatal.) Yet there she was, staring up at the entity who had just addressed her for a full twenty count, before she finally replied, in that same language, "You speak?"

What came out over the next little while, as the two of them made their way to meet up with the Morrison people and Hakela, was a most confusing story. His name was Megatragan, and he was not from Dread Island. (The notion of an island and an ocean in which one floated actually bewildered him.) He, and beings like him, lived in a place that they called El Fondo, but he was aware of other places. Travelers from one such place had taught him the language he was now speaking. This was clearly yet another place, and he was not sure how he had come here. There had been a great storm, and he had passed out then awakened here.

The whole thing was every bit as much of a mystery to the researchers, who were naturally quite excited to meet a sapient sauropod who seemed reasonably friendly. (The one worrying bit in their conversation occurred when one of them offered to get some meat for him to eat, which upset Megatragan. Despite his terrifying teeth, he claims to be a vegetarian who receives most of his nourishment from the sun. This seems absurd, but there are stranger things.) There are no records of any explorers finding an isolated realm known as El Fondo, which might mean that it was discovered by some other agency and kept secret.

Currently, the Morrison researchers are planning to take Megatragan off the island and bring him to one of their major laboratories. He has agreed to this, since he has no real attachment to the island and hopes that this can be a way for him to get home. Haupoe and Hakela will also be accompanying him. (The dreadwolf dislikes him, and always tries to stay between him and Haupoe whenever possible.) Megatragan is really looking forward to seeing the New York City that the people he met talked about.

Neither he nor the Morrison researchers have yet realized that his view of what New York is like and what it is really like differ in a number of ways, notably the presence or absence of a certain pair of towers ...

Megatragan -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 9/6 | STA 10/7 | AGL 5 | DEX 0 | FGT 8 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
Big Bite: Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical 4 - 7 points
Fast Runner: Speed 3 (16 MPH) - 3 points
"He's A Dinosaur:" Permanent Growth 6 (24 feet; Strength +6, Stamina +6, Intimidation +3, Dodge -3, Parry -3, Stealth -6), Innate; Protection 4, Impervious 7 - 30 points
Keen Senses: Senses 4 (acute extended 2 scent, low-light vision) - 4 points
Solar-Powered: Enhanced Speed 2 (60 MPH), Only in Daylight; Enhanced Stamina 3, Only in Daylight; Enhanced Strength 3, Only in Daylight; Immunity 1 (starvation & thirst); Immunity 2 (suffocation), Limited to half-effect - 9 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Diehard, Fast Grab, Fearless 2, Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Startle, Takedown

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+11/+8), Close Combat: Bite 1 (+9), Expertise: Survival 6 (+7), Insight 5 (+8), Intimidation 5 (+10), Perception 7 (+10), Stealth 4 (+6).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 9/6)
Big Bite +9 (Close Damage 12/9, Crit 16-20)

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

Totals:
Abilities 38 + Powers 53 + Advantages 10 + Skills 15 + Defenses 20 = 136 points

Offensive PL: 11
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 10
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Poor Manipulators. Prejudice ("everybody thinks I wanna EAT them, for pity's sake!") Soft-Hearted.

 

[Davies]

Kazumi/和美

Whenever she asked her parents about why they had chosen to leave the world behind and come to the Shadow School, with her in their arms, they would change the subject. Likely as not, the story is less embarrassing than they imagine, but it probably makes no difference now, anyway. Sasagawa Kazumi grew up thoroughly enmeshed in the philosophy of the school, and learned to harness her inner strength to do wonders. At sixteen, she joined the school in earnest.

Almost immediately, she found herself disenchanted. What she had been told was that the School would allow her to pursue enlightenment; what she found was a collection of mercenaries who treated their powers as tools, rather than expressions of some universal truth. When she complained, she found herself disciplined, sometimes harshly, and therefore learned not to complain. Instead, she bided her time, and held out hope that things might change, one day. Kazumi never dared to dream that she would be part of that change.

Then, on one of her bloody-handed missions, she (and the other operatives working with her) crossed paths with the newly formed Ghost Sweepers. Kazumi would like to claim that what happened next was all part of a plan that she worked out once she realized that they were finally facing a competent opponent, but the truth is that events proceeded far too quickly for her to do that. Less than a month after she had met them for the first time, the government agents invaded the School and exposed the betrayal of Hidenori. Finally, a change was going to come!

The change was the return to power of Akio. Akio, who had chosen Hidenori as his successor in the first place! Everything that had happened as a result of that, all the misery that Kazumi and her entire generation had known, was all on his shoulders, and the old fools wanted him back? Disgusted beyond endurance, Kazumi finally spoke her truth to power and then, as she knew that she had to, she left her home forever.

For the last decade, one of the finest ninja ever to come out of the Shadow School has operated a florist shop in Shibuya Underground Mall. She no longer performs missions, but keeps herself polished to a razor edge in the training facility she installed beneath her suburban home. Initially, the Shadow School sent a few operatives every year to try and bring her back. Kazumi finally put a stop to this by sending one of them back with the verbal message, "Stop sending your children to try and capture me, or I will stop sending them back to you." She included a photo of the lime pit in her basement to clarify what she meant by that.

While Kazumi claims to only want peace, she has also passed on a few combat techniques to certain students who have sought her out in what she considers an appropriate manner. Her most recent student was one Kishinami Monaka, as the thought of training the successor of those who defeated the School appeals to her sense of irony. Her other house guest, whom she went to some trouble to hide from Monaka, is her fellow runaway, Manami. She is still deciding whether she wants to help Manami or use her as bait to attract the Shadow School and finally bring down that den of deceit.

The notion that the school has changed from what she once knew, tragically, is likely to fall on deaf ears where Kazumi is concerned.

Kazumi -- PL 10

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

Powers:
Shunkan Ido: Enhanced Advantages 7 (Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll 2, Evasion, Improved Initiative 2), Quirk (Close Attack is only enhanced against targets with a lower Initiative total); Enhanced Defenses 6 (Dodge 3, Parry 3); Easy Extended Teleport 4 (500 feet/30 miles), Change Direction, Change Velocity, Turnabout - 32 points
Striking Strength: Strength-based Damage 2 - 2 points

Advantages:
Acrobatic Bluff, Chokehold, Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 3, Evasion, Fast Grab, Grabbing Finesse, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 3, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Precise Attack 2 (close & ranged/concealment), Ranged Attack 4, Redirect, Skill Mastery (Stealth), Takedown, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Shuriken (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1) and 5 points of equipment as needed.
Suburban House: Size Small; Toughness 6; Features Combat Simulator, Deathtrap, Gym, Holding Cell, Living Space, Secret, Security System - 7 points

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+12), Athletics 8 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+11), Deception 8 (+9), Expertise: Gardening 5 (+7), Expertise: History 7 (+9), Investigation 8 (+10), Perception 8 (+11), Ranged Combat: Shuriken 3 (+8), Sleight of Hand 7 (+12), Stealth 8 (+13), Technology 6 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +17
Unarmed +13/+11 (Close Damage 3)
Shuriken +12 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 11/8, Parry 13/10, Fortitude 5, Toughness 7/2, Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 54 + Powers 34 + Advantages 21 + Skills 39 + Defenses 14 = 162 points

Offensive PL: 8
Defensive PL: 10
Resistance PL: 7
Skill PL: 9

Complications:
Peace--Motivation. Exile (who desires revenge.) Secret Identity.

 

[Davies]

Carmilla

The exact circumstances under which the Styrian aristocrat Mircalla Karnstein became a vampire at the tender age of eighteen, more than three hundred years ago, are understandably a bit obscure. Most likely one of her several suitors at the time of her death was a vampire, one of those whom Dracula had created over the previous century. Ironically, another of those suitors was the Baron Vordenburg, a well-known vampire hunter. From remarks she has made since, one scenario has suggested itself, but it remains only a plausible scenario. Discovering the vampire attacking Mircalla, Baron Vordenburg dispatched him but not before the transformation had already begun and was impossible to stop. Baron Vordenburg then took Mircalla into custody to prevent her from harming anyone ... and, if her claims are to be believed, to take advantage of her unliving nature for the satisfaction of his necrophiliac proclivities.

Eventually, Mircalla escaped, and began her own career as a vampire in central Europe. With the assistance of servants under her sway, she established a pattern. One of her servants, posing as her mother, would place her under a deformation of her proper name in the care of an aristocratic family with a daughter who attracted the interest of the vampire, who apparently forswore male company after becoming a creature of the night. She would establish an intimate, passionate friendship with the daughter, who would eventually seem to die of a unrecognized malady, after which Mircalla would move on, vanishing back into the shadows.

It was while engaged in these pursuits in 1837 that she took the name Carmilla and became the "friend" of an English girl named Laura Holley, a bit too soon after she had already murdered the daughter of one General Spielsdorf, who counted the Holley family among his acquaintances. The result was the near destruction of Carmilla -- indeed, the manuscript that Laura wrote soon before her death, which came into the possession of the occult doctor Martin Hesselius, claims that Carmilla did die and in a remarkably final manner. Yet as Laura admitted in the last lines of her journal, she sometimes fancied that she heard footsteps she associated with Carmilla near her ... and one dark night, she heard them for the last time.

For indeed, Carmilla had survived this death due to the fact that her vampiric nature was subtly different from what they understood, allowing her to return even from being burned to ash. But the damage was done, and eventually the account of he affair would be published by the Irish writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu under the title Carmilla, shortly before the mysterious death of the author. The vampire went into hiding, stealing out of her lair only once every decade or so to feed and sleeping the rest of the time. But the impact of the episode cannot be denied, for she stopped engaging in her habit of twisting her name as part of her identity. She was Carmilla, now and forever.

In 1948, events forced Carmilla to the realization that Europe had gotten too hot for her, despite her successful avoidance of involvement in either of the World Wars. Escaping vampire hunters sponsored by both the British and the Soviets, she traveled to America where she established new hiding places, initially planning to resume sneaking out once a decade in pursuit of her prey. But her studies of American culture led her to the realization that her old tricks would fail in this new milieu, and so she began a new plan, again reducing her murders to a minimal amount to avoid attracting the attention of hunters and authorities, and seeking her prey from among those society abandoned rather than the aristocracy.

Fundamentally, there is little difference between Carmilla and a mundane serial killer. She engages in a pathological series of behavior, identifying victims who arouses her interest -- generally a young woman, though at least one recent case saw her preying on an agender individual -- and inserting herself into their lives, seducing them, and then slowly murdering them. (As far as is known, she has never transformed any of these victims into vampires, leading to speculation that she has never learned the so-called "dark trick.") Interrupting this pattern of activities has been known to provoke incredibly violent behavior from her, as when the Pythons accidentally killed her current object of desire and drew down her fury on them.

Just as she did then, Carmilla currently resides in Denver, striving to avoid its superpower population except when she discovers her next victim among them or when they try to stop her. She has been known to depart for vacations in Asia, Australia or South America, but has never returned to Europe. Recently, however, she has received an intriguing offer from the vampire known as Mina Harker, who seeks her assistance in her own schemes. The thought of doing something, however petty, to damage the kingdom that Dracula has claimed for her own, appeals to her, and she does feel a tiny bit of sympathy for what motivates Mina. She will probably betray both her and Lucy before it is all over, though.

Love will have its sacrifices, after all.

Carmilla - PL 10

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

Powers:
Blood Drain: Linked Damage 1 and Weaken Stamina 12 (Resisted by Fortitude), Grab-Based, Limited to Draining 1 rank per round, Quirk (only against targets who could be affected by the Damage effect, whether or not they are) - 4 points
Blood Link: Mental Communication 3 (regional), Limited to anyone who drinks her blood; Mind-Reading 8, Sensory Link, Limited to anyone who drinks her blood - 25 points
Cat Form: Linked Morph 1 (cat); Linked Shrinking 6 (Dodge +3, Parry +3, Stealth +6, Intimidation -3), Normal Strength - 17 points
Ghostly: Permanent Concealment 8 (audio, radio, visual), Limited to machines, Quirk (no reflection in mirrors) - 7 points
Undead: Immortality 6 (16 hours), Limited, remains must be exposed to moonlight; Immunity 30 (Fortitude effects); Impervious Protection 9, Limited, not against mystical damage; Regeneration 10, Source (blood) - 50 points

Advantages:
Attractive 2, Benefit 2 (independently wealthy), Daze (Deception), Fascination (Persuasion), Improved Initiative, Power Attack.

Skills:
Close Combat: Blood Drain 3 (+8), Deception 7 (+12), Expertise: Magic 4 (+9), Expertise: Popular Culture 8 (+10), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 8 (+13/+10), Perception 8 (+11), Persuasion 9 (+14), Stealth 7 (+8/+14).

Offense:
Initiative +5
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 6)
Blood Drain +8 (Close Weaken Stamina 12)

Defense:
Dodge 9/6, Parry 11/8, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 9, Will 9

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

Totals:
Abilities 38 + Powers 103 + Advantages 8 + Skills 29 + Defenses 14 = 192 points.

Complications:
Psychopath--Motivation. Compulsion (Must be invited into any dwelling she does not own.) Fury (when interrupted in her pathology.) Hatred (Dracula and his minions.) Power Loss (All powers except Ghostly Undead Invulnerability cannot be used in daylight hours.) Weakness (Can be held back by a holy symbol in the hands of a believer, impaired while listening to hymns sung by the faithful.)

 

[Davies]

Jim, Agent of Saturn

There are those who would say that Jim Houston, 38, has made his own bed and should learn to sleep in it. Others might go further and use the phrases, "dug his own grave" and ... well, you get the idea. And maybe that is fair, for he is, after all, a well-paid member of a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. The prospect of exchanging the relative boredom of his existence (interspersed with moments of mortal terror that do not all happen on the battlefield) for a prison cell does not at all appeal to him. And yet ...

Houston never planned for any of this. After Cerebron, as soon as he was legal, he enlisted in the army in the hopes that he would be doing something to help protect his country from future attacks. He was at best an indifferent soldier, though neither a screw up nor a discipline case, and the idealistic intentions that had led him here were soon worn down out of existence. Gradually, he became aware that the captain of his unit had some sort of connection to a mysterious organization; from those who had been with the unit longer, he learned that they were preparing for a day when the superpowers were finally going to be put in their place, under the rule of a legitimate human government.

But when the coup finally began, the captain hesitated; his allies were not just attacking superpowers, but the legitimate human government they were supposed to serve. He assembled the unit and was in the process of giving orders to act against the leaders of the coup when his lieutenant shot him in the head from behind, in full view of the rest of the troops. The price of defiance having been made quite clear to him, Houston followed the orders he was given in the immediate moment rather than any oaths he might have sworn in the past, and soon found himself an agent of Saturn.

He is not sure, but he thinks that he might be the only one of his unit to have survived the last decade and a half. He has no idea why, as he sees nothing special about himself. He supposes that he might be a tiny bit more clever, a tiny bit more interested in the function of his equipment, but that only ensures that he knows exactly what kind of a cheap, unsafe piece of crap he gets issued for his blaster rifle. Jim Houston knows just how expendable he is considered by his superiors. And yet he keeps surviving.

A few months ago, he found himself contacted, through a covert e-mail, by someone who claimed to want to know about how Saturn functioned. He was half-way sure that he was being set up by Internal Investigations, and so he was initially quite measured in his responses. When II failed to break down his barracks door, he became a little more forthright about how bad things were, and by now he is quite compromised. On some level, he hopes that these accounts are getting to someone on the other side -- Argus, the FBI, even some of the superpowers, maybe -- if only because they might be used as part of his defense in a possible trial. Maybe it will be enough to get him less than life imprisonment.

(Sadly for Jim, his reports are going to one of the subsidiary nodes of the ASI known as Savitor, who is preparing to seize control of Saturn from its current leadership. Sometimes, even when people try to do right, they just end up doing a different kind of wrong.)

Jim Houston -- PL 6

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

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Equipment 6.

Equipment:
Blaster Rifle (Ranged Damage 8), Body Armor (Protection 4), smartphone and 8 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+5), Deception 3 (+3), Expertise: Criminal 3 (+5), Expertise: Military 3 (+5), Intimidation 4 (+4), Perception 3 (+3), Ranged Combat: Blaster 2 (+4), Technology 2 (+4).

Offense:
Initiative +1
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 1)
Blaster Rifle +4 (Ranged Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 4, Parry 5, Fortitude 4, Toughness 6/2, Will 3.

Totals:
Abilities 22 + Advantages 7 + Skills 11 + Defenses 10 = 50 points

Offensive PL: 6
Defensive PL: 6
Resistance PL: 4
Skill PL: 0

Complications:
Personal Survival And The Promise Of Riches--Motivation. Secret (disloyal.)

Note: Houston can be used as a template for a typical PL 6/MR 3 Saturn operative. Reduce INT by 1 rank, drop Beginner's Luck and lower Equipment by 2 ranks (dropping smartphone and unassigned gear.)

 

[Voltron64]

But when the coup finally began, the captain hesitated; his allies were not just attacking superpowers, but the legitimate human government they were supposed to serve. He assembled the unit and was in the process of giving orders to act against the leaders of the coup when his lieutenant shot him in the head from behind, in full view of the rest of the troops. The price of defiance having been made quite clear to him, Houston followed the orders he was given in the immediate moment rather than any oaths he might have sworn in the past, and soon found himself an agent of Saturn.

Every now and down, Jim wishes he'd shot that lieutenant in response. Not sure what would've happened next, probably run for the hills or something, but probably might've been better than how things ended up.

He is not sure, but he thinks that he might be the only one of his unit to have survived the last decade and a half. He has no idea why, as he sees nothing special about himself. He supposes that he might be a tiny bit more clever, a tiny bit more interested in the function of his equipment, but that only ensures that he knows exactly what kind of a cheap, unsafe piece of crap he gets issued for his blaster rifle. Jim Houston knows just how expendable he is considered by his superiors. And yet he keeps surviving.

He also wishes every now and down that he enlisted somewhere other the Army, or maybe just never enlisted at all.

 

[Davies]

Every now and down, Jim wishes he'd shot that lieutenant in response. Not sure what would've happened next, probably run for the hills or something,

Or, just as probably, gotten shot himself in the confusion that would have followed.

 

[Davies]

Gedaugen (revised)

"Like Alexander I will reign,/And I will reign alone,
My thoughts shall evermore disdain/A rival on my throne."
-- from My Dear and Only Love, by James Graham, Marquis of Montrose

For a long time, he was content in his tiny kingdom, content to have his services called upon by the much greater powers that ruled his world, content with guarding what he had discovered under circumstances that even he no longer remembered well. He knew that he would only destroy himself if he chose to oppose those greater powers, and that they had no interest in claiming what he guarded or seizing his demesne. So he was satisfied with what he had.

Then came a strange foreigner who demanded -- demanded -- that Gedaugen turn over to her the Entropy Gem. If the Commandant of Entropy regrets anything, it is that he did not wield the powers of the Gem against her in response to this demand, but trusted to his own mastery of that universal force to vanquish this challenger. He recognizes that the other four Cosmic Gems she had in her possession would likely have still granted her the victory, but perhaps he could have made it a hollow one by destroying what she sought in a final act of defiance.

But he did not, and she took the Entropy Gem with her and left him lying on the floor of his throne room, barely alive and struggling to restore himself. His immediate plan was to pursue the one called Billie Zane and somehow -- this part of the plan was, he admitted, too vague to merit the term "plan" -- regain what she had taken from him, no matter what the effort cost him. Almost as soon as he was hale, however, Gedaugen felt a confusing change in the cosmos.

Then a scowling, red-haired woman appeared from nowhere before him. "This is probably a big mistake, but what the hell do I know?" said Gloriana as she tossed the Entropy Gem to him. He was too astounded by this development to take any action against the intruder before she disappeared as quickly and inexplicably as she came. There was also the distraction of what renewed possession of the gem allowed him to understand about the aforementioned change to the forces of entropy, which now possessed the mystic qualities that it did in other parts of the multiverse.

This has both increased his power and broadened it, allowing Gedaugen to wield entropy to nullify the powers of others, regardless of their source. Still more terrifyingly, he has gained the power to suppress the psychic functions of other beings with nothing moe than a touch, reducing them to a comatose state while manifesting their consciousnesses as globes of energy that he holds in his hand, which he can interrogate as long as he holds them. He generally releases these "stolen souls" once he has obtained whatever intelligence he requires from them, but has been seen to crush them out of existence, killing the victim, when doing so suited his needs.

These changes to his station, and the disappearance of both Abraxas and Ananke from Daath, have led Gedaugen to join the struggle for power that now consumes the world of darkness. His short-term goal to seize sole power and then reorganize the armies of the Dark Side along more professional lines, before resuming their attacks on the rest of the universe. His long-term goal serves the purposes of entropy as he now understands it, breaking things down into simpler forms. What could be a simpler form for a universe filled with division and conflict than being brought beneath the rule of a single individual? All will be equal then, none more powerful than any other, save for him.

"He either fears his fate too much,/Or his deserts are small,
That puts it not unto the touch/To win or lose it all."
-- op. cit.

Gedaugen -- PL 15

Abilities:
STR 11 | STA 13 | AGL 4 | DEX 2 | FGT 9 | INT 3 | AWE 6 | PRE 6

Powers:
Abiding: Immunity 11 (aging, life support); Impervious Toughness 7; Impervious Will 10 - 28 points
Entropic Manifestations: Array (45 points)

• Boundary: Healing 15, Others Only, Selective Burst Area - 45 points
• Cascade: Cumulative Affliction 15 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Fortitude; Vision Impaired, Vision Disabled, Vision Unaware), Selective Burst Area, Limited to One Sense - 1 point
• Exergy: Damage 11, Alternate Resistance (Fortitude), Selective Burst Area - 1 point
• Mitigation: Healing 11, Self Only, Reaction (when damaged) - 1 point
• Momentum: Move Object 15 (800 tons), Selective Burst Area, Limited to Moving Away - 1 point
• Nullification: Close Nullify 15, Concentration, Cosmic - 1 point
• Reaction: Cumulative Affliction 15 (Resisted by Fortitude; Impaired, Disabled), Limited Degree, Selective Burst Area - 1 point
• Soul Theft: Affliction 15 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Reversible; Cumulative Mind Reading 10, Quirk (only targets incapacitated by Soul Theft) - 1 point*

Force Shield: Enhanced Defenses 4 (Dodge 2, Parry 2); Strength-based Damage 4; Activation (Move Action, -1) - 7 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Benefit (rulership), Fearless, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Smash, Improved Trip, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Takedown 2, Weapon Break.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10), Athletics 3 (+14), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+13), Deception 4 (+10), Expertise: Galactic 8 (+11), Expertise: Military 10 (+15), Insight 4 (+10), Intimidation 6 (+12), Perception 6 (+12), Technology 6 (+9), Vehicles 9 (+11)

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +13 (Close Damage 11)
Shield Bash +9 (Close Damage 15)

Defense:
Dodge 13/11, Parry 15/13, Fortitude 15, Toughness 13, Will 11.

Totals:
Abilities 104 + Powers 66 + Advantages 13 + Skills 34 + Defenses 18 = 245 points

Offensive PL: 15
Defensive PL: 14
Resistance PL: 13
Skill PL: 10

Complications:
Power--Motivation. Brutal and Merciless. Enemies (other would-be rulers of Daath.) Guardian of the Entropy Gem (will go absolutely berserk if anyone tries to steal it after this.)

* "Crushing the stolen soul" uses a finishing attack maneuver against the Incapacitated target.

 

[Davies]

Dr. Valerie Petrie

Let it be clear, she is a legitimate doctor. (When in a good mood, she will unsmilingly declare, "I have a Doctorate in Philosophy from Yale, a Doctorate in Civil Law from McGill, and a Doctorate in Medicine from John Hopkins. My friends, out of courtesy, call me Doctor.") But if she ever held a license to practice medicine, it has certainly been revoked given the well-documented crimes to which she has been party. Dr. Valerie Petrie is perhaps the foremost medical mercenary in the world, with only Sorayama Hiroshi, the great artist of cybernetics, standing as a peer.

The earliest record of a Valerie Petrie dates to 1981, when she arrived, alone, at the doors of a think tank operating in Rochester, New York. According to her stated biography, she was then fourteen, and the only daughter of the late Roland Petrie, associated with the Morrison Institute before his death in 1979 and a former employee of a somewhat notorious private hospital in upstate New York. All subsequent attempts to discover corroboration of this background have failed. Nevertheless, she was accepted as a member of the think tank and soon distinguished herself in its medical research program.

She remained at the think tank well after she would have been free to leave, only departing when she was expelled under obscure circumstances in 1997. According to her statements, she had even then begun to feel that the think tank concept had served its purpose and that much of the research currently being pursued there was pathological and/or directed towards impractical ends. The handful of fellow students from that institution who are willing to talk about her will claim, in hushed tones, that she was expelled for practicing reanimation, having even then come into possession of the Frankenstein papers as an inheritance from a cousin of hers named West. (She denies any relation to the individual by that name who was active in the 1980s, but will not deny a possible connection to his alleged ancestor.)

Since then, having not aged perceptibly since departing the think tank, she has unhesitatingly put her scientific and medical skills to the use of the highest bidder. While regarding ethics as largely irrelevant to her concerns, Dr. Petrie does observe certain personal standards. She is not interested in putting her skills to use for the sake of romantic nihilism under the pretense of "for science!" When she agrees to work on a project, it must have a specific goal that she considers achievable. If she later determines that the goal is unachievable after she has accepted payment for her work, she may (depending on her evaluation of the stability of her employer) make one attempt to convince them of the impossibility of what they want. If that fails, or if she believes doing so would be unsafe, she will continue to work on the project while making plans for her personal escape from the fiasco sure to follow.

During the course of several such fiascos, she has crossed paths with most of the Powerhouse and other noteworthy superheroes, maintaining a somewhat collegial association with la Donna Universale despite having been on opposing sides of several conflicts. When confronted by superpowered opposition she will unhesitatingly surrender, having no illusions about her ability to successfully fight against such beings. She is more inclined towards homicidal self-defense when confronted by more mundane opposition, and can and has given lessons in the combat applications of the scalpel.

As already mentioned, Dr. Petrie has been alleged to be in possession of the papers of one George Frankenstein, outlining his process for returning life to unliving tissue. These rumors are correct. However, Dr. Petrie does not engage in these practices. (This is not to say that she has not, only that she no longer does so.) She believes in staying bought, and considers the decision by Adam and Mary Frankenstein to allow her to remain living after they learned of her ownership of these documents, as long as she was willing to agree to use them only as they request, as having purchased her services in a coin she values dearly.

Buried in the archives of the think tank where she was supposedly trained, now held by the library of the University of Rochester, are the results of the physical examination she was given on arriving at that institution. They confirm that she was a typical fourteen year old female human, but note one oddity -- the presence of scarring on her head, covered by her hair. Scarring typical of someone who had been the subject of brain surgery -- extremely radical brain surgery. Those marks have largely been effaced by time and treatments she herself has developed, and she does not welcome inquiries about them. At all.

Dr. Valerie Petrie -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Longevity: Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) - 3 points
Unfazeable: Immunity 5 (interaction skills) - 5 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Daze (Deception), Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 10, Evasion, Improved Critical (knife) 2, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-all-trades, Medical Miracleworker*, Multilingual, Non-Lethal Tactics, Redirect, Skill Mastery (Treatment), Uncanny Dodge, Well-informed.
* As Invention, but using Expertise: Science to design and Treatment to "build".

Equipment:
50 points of gear as needed for current operations, usually including a knife (Strength-based Damage 1, Improved Critical) and a headquarters (always including Infirmary and Laboratory.)

Skills:
Close Combat: Knife 5 (+9), Deception 5 (+10), Expertise: Criminal 5 (+12), Expertise: Science 6 (+13), Insight 5 (+8), Intimidation 7 (+11), Investigation 4 (+11), Perception 5 (+8), Technology 2 (+9), Treatment 6 (+13).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +4 (Close Damage 1)
Scalpel +9 (Close Damage 2, Crit 17-20)

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

Totals:
Abilities 52 + Powers 8 + Advantages 26 + Skills 25 + Defenses 19 = 130 points

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

Complications:
Mercenary--Motivation. Honor (stays bought.) Power Loss (Longevity, without regular treatments.) Secret (custodian of Frankenstein papers.) Somewhat Vain.

 

[Davies]

Kalama Mazainin

Art by Moonsoo Lee

Not so very long ago, on a planet on the trailing side of the Technate, a middle-aged woman, beat down by years, sat at the bar in a broken down public house, nursing an alcoholic beverage. She lifted her head slightly at the unfamiliar sound of thrusters not so far away, then nodded to herself. "'Tis about to get a bit dangerous in here, gents, so you'd all wisely be elsewhere," she announced, then glanced over her shoulder to discover that the tavern had emptied out even before she spoke. With a shrug, she returned to her drink.

Then the doors to the house burst inward as a younger woman, strongly resembling the older one, kicked them in. (Her hands were filled with a pair of blasters, you see.) "You chuttin' slag!" she shouted as her fiery eyes settled on the sole occupant of the house. (It should not be difficult to figure out the English equivalents of the naughty words being used in this conversation, but the originals will nevertheless be used in their stead.)

"Fair mornin' to ye, Kalama," replied the chutting slag without a glance in the direction of the one who so addressed her. "You're out sooner than I thought."

"Oh, I daresay you thought you'd never see me again, Maza," replied Kalama, making the word for mother into a curse. "But I showed 'em like I'm about to show you and --"

"I knew you'd be back," the old woman said, before taking a deep draught that almost drained the contents of the flagon before her.

"Damned liar!" Kalama shouted. "If you'd thought I'd be back, you'd have been lars away from here by now! Or what, did the dosh from the buros not cover a ticket on a fast ship for ye?"

"You could say that, right enow," her mother replied agreeably, licking her lips to get what remained of the drink on them.

Kalama let out a disgusted grunt. "Spent it all on drink, I s'pect."

"Now that you can't say. There was no money, Kalama. The buros offered me some, aye, but I told 'em where to keep it. I never sold ye out, girl. I gave ye up for free."

Kalama was shocked enough that the blasters in each of her hands dropped their line of fire from the old woman to the floor of the house. "For free?" she repeated, hoarsely. "You turned me into the chuttin' Bureau of Law Enforcement, knowin' what they would do to me, knowin' they'd try to turn my mind inside out, and you never even took their dosh? Why? What was the point of it, then?"

"The point," said her mother, finally sure that there was no more drink to be had, "was to trade the endless wonderin' of when you'd decide to finish me off for at least a little time where I knew you couldn't. I hoped for a month, but a week will have to do." With that, she finally turned to face Kalama head on, regarding her with furious loathing. "So get on with it, damn ye, you've been tryin' to end me since you was in me guts!"

The sound of Kalama shrieking in outrage almost drowned out the roar of blaster fire.

Kalama Mazainin ("Mothered-Not") is one of the most notorious pirates of the trailing regions of the Technate, frequently raiding into the Vaask Hegemony and territories claimed by the Konan Armada. There is a substantial bounty on her head, but most people are understandably reluctant to take the risks involved in claiming it, given what she is known to have done to the last individual who turned her in for the reward. (The true story of that, presented above, is known only to herself.)

She has subjected herself to extensive cybernetic modification in order to keep her body beyond the razor edge needed to be a successful space pirate, as well as keeping herself alive after the serious injuries she has suffered in her pursuit of infamy. None of this has done anything good for her psychological balance, which was not all that great in the first place. Kalama is notorious, even among pirates, for being a mercurial and unpredictable commander, showering her crew with riches on day and shooting them in cold blood over minor infractions of ship policy the next. Fortunately, the stories about paying well attract the interest of people who imagine that the other sort could never happen to them.

Recently, Kalama happened to overhear an old rival-slash-ally-of-convenience, one Naharuk, recruiting crew for a visit to some obscure planet in the Unclaimed Regions that had been invaded by Konan and threw them back. The incident has seized her curiosity, as she wonders how much profit could be gained from raiding a system that would be barely recovered from the damage that invasion caused ...

Kalama Mazainin -- PL 9

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

Powers:
Mobility: Enhanced Advantages 4 (Evasion, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action); Leaping 2 (30 feet); Movement 2 (environmental adaptation-zero gravity; wall-crawling); Speed 2 (8 MPH) - 12 points
Twin Stars: Ranged Damage 10, Improved Critical 2, Split Attack; Easily Removable (-8) - 15 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Benefit (make climbing checks with Acrobatics), Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 17, Evasion, Improved Initiative 2, Leadership, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 2, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics), Startle.

Equipment:
Maza: Size Gargantuan; Strength 14; Speed 14 (space only; 32,000 MPH); Defense 6; Toughness 14; Features Communications, Hidden Compartments, Holding Cells, Infirmary, Living Space, Navigation System, Remote Control.
Powers:
Stardrive: Movement 2 (space travel 2) - 4 points
Weapons: Array (54 points)

• Torpedoes: Linked Ranged Damage 12; Linked Ranged Burst Damage 10 - 54 points
• Tractor Beam: Move Object 14 - 1 point

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+7), Deception 6 (+8), Expertise: Galactic 7 (+10), Insight 6 (+8), Intimidation 9 (+11), Stealth 4 (+9), Technology 6 (+9), Vehicles 6 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +13
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 3)
Blaster +8 (Ranged Damage 10, Crit 18-20)

Defense:
Dodge 11, Parry 10, Fortitude 5, Toughness 7/2, Will 7

Offensive PL: 9
Defensive PL: 9
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 7

Totals:
Abilities 56 + Powers 27 + Advantages 29 + Skills 27 + Defenses 19 = 172 points

Complications:
Greed--Motivation. Paranoia. Weakness (becomes Vulnerable if subject to Nullify Electrical.)

"I tread a lurching timber world, a reeking salt-caked hell;
And yet, perhaps, no worse a world than yours ..."

 

[Davies]

Proctor

The saying goes, "If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras" -- in rather more words, it is foolish to make unlikely conclusions from data when there are more plausible ones to be made. So it is that, when a robot appears and starts attacking people, most people will assume that it is a creation of a human mad scientist, even if they are aware of the existence of sapient robots on the planet Mercury. (The fact that the largest manufacturers of hostile robots on Earth are also robots is known to few.) Sometimes, however, the hoofbeats will be those of zebras.

The robot known as Proctor first appeared in 2018, operating in Denver and luring the Blue Bolt and Polymorph into a trap-filled facility that made heavy use of its attack drones as both remote weapons and spies. While the two heroes were able to easily deal with the traps -- to the point where they spent a fair amount of time reminiscing about more effective means of imprisonment to which they had been subjected to in the past -- and incapacitate the robot, they were unable to determine who had created it and set it loose. They turned the inactive robot over to the authorities and sauntered off whistling, expecting this to be their only encounter with the robot.

They were technically correct, in that they have yet to encounter Proctor as a duo since then, though each of them has had a subsequent encounter with the robot, as have a number of other superheroes. (By this point, it has become clear that it is operating independently of whoever constructed it.) The robot has seemed more interested in capturing and studying its opponents than permanently eliminating them. This is doubly fortunate, as the designs and implementation of its plans have improved greatly from its initial debut, frequently striking against the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of its targets.

Recently, however, those schemes have become considerably more lethal than they have in the past, with the Milwaukee-based hero Scanner barely escaping with his life after an encounter with Proctor. Scanner passed on information about this episode to the Powerhouse as a courtesy, while admitting that he was unsure whether the danger had been greater because of changes in the operations of the robot or his own complacency. As Proctor rarely speaks to its motives in making these attacks, just what might have prompted such changes remains as much a mystery as anything else about it.

Proctor -- a self-granted designation -- was created by a hyper-advanced civilization that lies far beyond the regions of space explored by aliens familiar with Earth, much closer towards the galactic core. These entities are much more familiar with and able to exploit the higher regions of hyperspace than is permitted by the technology employed by the Technate and Imperium. As such, they were able to perceive a disturbance that propagated through those regions of hyperspace at trillions of times the speed of light, and track it back to its source on Earth, where extradimensional energies had briefly touched reality from the other side. A robot explorer was dispatched to Earth to investigate this situation further, operated by a gestalt consciousness based on the entire leadership of its creators.

Proctor discovered traces of these extradimensional energies on a variety of subjects, especially "superheroes" associated with the organization known as the Powerhouse. But its investigations would not discover their source for nearly a year, when it learned of the existence of the entity known as the Avatar -- a projection of the consciousness and power of an actual entity from beyond reality onto this plane of existence. This was humbling and terrifying. Proctor nevertheless continued its investigations, now focusing on studying the effects that the presence of this being had on the inhabitants of this planet.

They have continued even as beings from this planet have apparently altered the way that the entire universe relates to those extradimensional energy sources in recent months, further terrifying Proctor. This residents of this planet have clearly demonstrated that they are a serious threat to all other civilizations in this reality, including its creators, and so its investigations have become much more forceful than they have been in the past. Proctor still does not want to destroy Earth or its residents, but their continued experimentation with reality-altering technologies, whether informational, mechanical or psi-electronic, has to stop. And if the only way to do that is to stop them from doing anything ... well, it is a cold and unforgiving universe.

Proctor -- PL 11

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

Powers:
Advanced Sensors: Senses 9 (direction sense, distance sense, infravision, radar [radius accurate radio], time sense, ultravision) - 9 points
Attack Orbs: Summon 8, Controlled, Heroic, Horde, Mental Link, Multiple Minions 3, Sacrifice - 98 points
Built-In Weaponry: Array (24 points)

• Basic Blaster: Ranged Damage 12 - 24 points
• Capturebeam: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 8 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseles & Immobile), Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point
• Gravbeam: Damaging Move Object 8 - 1 point
• Stunbeam: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 8 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) - 1 point

Phased Flight: Flight 11 (4000 MPH), Aquatic; Insubstantial 3; Movement 4 (environmental adaptation [zero-g], space flight 3) - 46 points
Robotic Body: Immortality 5 (minimum of 1 day), Check Required (Technology, DC 20); Immunity 30 (Fortitude); Impervious Protection 11; Regeneration 1 - 54 points

Advantages:
Eidetic Memory, Multilingual, Skill Mastery (Technology), Ranged Attack 3, Speed of Thought, Well-informed.

Skills:
Expertise: Galactic 6 (+12), Investigation 5 (+11), Perception 6 (+12), Stealth 6 (+11), Technology 7 (+13).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 6)
Basic Blaster +10 (Ranged Damage 12)
Capturebeam +10 (Ranged Affliction 8, Resisted by Dodge)
Stunbeam +1 (Ranged Fortitude 8)

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

Totals:
Abilities 70 + Powers 234 + Advantages 8 + Skills 15 + Defenses 11 = 328 points

Offensive PL: 11
Defensive PL: 10
Resistance PL: 10
Skill PL: 8

Complications:
Observation and Judgment--Motivation. Fear (magic and supertechnology.)

Attack Orbs -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Advanced Sensors: Senses 9 (direction sense, distance sense, infravision, radar [radius accurate radio], time sense, ultravision) - 9 points
Built-in Weaponry: Array (16 points)

• Blaster: Ranged Damage 8 - 16 points
• Gravbeam: Damaging Move Object 5 - 1 point

Microjets: Flight 8 (500 MPH), Aquatic - 17 points
Recorders: Feature (audio/video recording equipment) - 1 point
Robotic Body: Immunity 30 (Fortitude); Impervious Protection 8; Regeneration 1 - 47 points
Small Size: Permanent Shrinking 12 (6 inches; Dodge +6, Parry +6, Stealth +12, Strength -3, Speed -1, Intimidation -6) - 12 point

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Ranged Attack 4, Teamwork

Skills:
Perception 10 (+13), Stealth 0 (+14).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +2 (Close Damage 0)
Blaster +8 (Ranged Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 8, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 8, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities -2 + Powers 103 + Advatages 9 + Skills 5 + Defenses 5 = 120 points

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

Complications:
Duty--Motivation. No Manipulators or Speech.

 

[Davies]

Sid Viscous

Ronald Rampulsky, better known by the alias Doctor Viscous, was one of the most notorious supervillains of the first age. Not for success in his criminal endeavors, but for sheer persistence. Despite being beaten by nearly every member of the Institute at some point, he kept coming back for more. Exactly how he avoided the inevitably lethal attention of Stardust is not clear, though Richard Lawson noted that the police reports about the crimes of Doctor Viscous do not show him as involved in any homicides, suggesting that his crimes never rose to the level that Stardust considered deserving of retribution.

In the end, however, he found himself behind bars for an extended period after the Battle of Vietnam, with his escape attempts foiled. Rampulsky would not be freed until 1982, when he was broken out of prison at the start of the Pythonian Insurgency. Seeing an opportunity, Doctor Viscous pledged his loyalty to the movement, and went to work in its scientific department. Despite the proposals he repeatedly pitched about outfitting an entire unit of Pythons equipped with his glue gun, he accomplished relatively little during his time with the Insurgency, and was ultimately killed several months prior to the invasion of Delphi.

Roughly twenty years after the death of Doctor Viscous, a new supervillain made his debut fighting the Blue Bolt under the alias Sid Viscous. (Reportedly, he was bewildered when the Bolt quoted Sex Pistols lyrics at him, raising a number of questions.) While employing what he claimed was an improvement on the original glue formula, he proved just as easily defeated as his forebear. Following his capture, he identified himself as Sidney Rampulsky, the son of Dr. Viscous, born to his Pythonian personal assistant.

This only raised further questions. Peri Brown, that assistant, had been taken into custody following the downfall of Delphi, and served a relatively short jail sentence. While she was the single mother of a young son -- named Dennis and born in 1986, on the same birthdate claimed by Sidney Rampulsky -- there is no evidence proving that Ronald Rampulsky was the father, and some witness accounts which suggest that the Doctor was asexual. Further, Sidney Rampulsky provides a narrative of his life, including time spent at a think tank, which is somewhat at odds with what little is known about the subsequent lives of Peri and Dennis Brown, which apparently came to an end during the Cerebron assault, after which they were both missing and presumed dead.

Nevertheless, Sid Viscous has since demonstrated the same bloody-minded persistence in his unsuccessful criminal endeavors as his supposed father, often coming back from defeats that seem fatal. His persistence is such that it has been seriously suggested that he is, in fact, a clone of Ronald Rampulsky let loose on the world by some unknown party. Sid has heard of these rumors, finds them outrageous, and intends to find out who started the silly idea and do some fatal things to them. He is his own man, living his own life, and if it parallels the father he never knew, that is just how it goes. He certainly never spends any sleepless nights contemplating this nonsense!

Based in St. Louis, Sid will sometimes claim that he was invited to join the Combination when it was formed but had to turn them down as he had other irons in the fire at the time. This is untrue; he turned the invitation down flat, no matter how flattering it was to be the first one asked, and has regretted it every time he has to pay protection money to them. Having learned from his mistake, he agreed to the similar invitation from the Slough, last year, and saw that operation fall to pieces due to the mistakes that everyone but him made. He managed to escape capture, but has sworn off on any team-ups after this. The only person he can rely on is himself, in the end.

Sid Viscous -- PL 8

Abilities:
STR 2 | STA 3 | AGL 1 | DEX 1 | FGT 4 | INT 5 | AWE 1 | PRE 0

Powers:
Armored Costume: Immunity 2 (suffocation); Protection 5; Removable (-1 point) - 6 points
Glue Gun: Array (32 points); Easily Removable (-14 points)

• Blob Shot: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 8 (Resisted by Dodge; Overcome by Damage; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobile), Contagious, Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 32 points
• Narrow Stream: Cumulative Line Area Affliction 8 (Resisted by Dodge; Overcome by Damage; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobile), Contagious, Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point
• Wide Strean: Cumulative Cone Area Affliction 8 (Resisted by Dodge; Overcome by Damage; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobile), Contagious, Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point
• Ultimate Solvent: Selective Burst Area Nullify Glue Effects 8, Simultaneous - 1 points

Jump Boots: Leaping 4 (120 feet); Removable (-0 points) - 4 points

Occasional Power Stunts:
"Here's Glue in Your Eye": Ranged Cumulative Affliction 10 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage; Visually Impaired, Visually Disabled, Visually Unaware)
"Here's Glue in Your THROAT": Ranged Progressive Affliction 8 (Resisted by Fortitude; Fatigued, Exhausted, Incapacitated/Dying)

Advantages:
Beginner’s Luck, Improved Initiative, Leadership, Power Attack, Takedown, Well-informed.

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+6), Expertise: Criminal 4 (+9), Expertise: Science 4 (+9), Intimidation 6 (+6), Investigation 2 (+7), Perception 4 (+5), Ranged Combat: Glue Gun 7 (+8), Technology 4 (+9).

Offense:
Initiative +5
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 2)
Glue Blob +8 (Ranged Affliction 8, Resisted by Dodge)
Narrow Stream -- (Line Area Affliction 8, Resisted by Dodge)
Wide Stream -- (Cone Area Affliction 8, Resisted by Dodge)

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

Totals:
Abilities 34 + Powers 31 + Advantages 6 + Skills 19 + Defenses 17 = 107 points

Offensive PL: 8
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 4

Complications:
Inferiority Complex--Motivation. Mild Paranoia.

Note: Should stats be required for Doctor Viscous, a PL 7 villain, reduce STR to 0 and STA to 1, increase INT to 8, reduce the rank of all Glue Gun powers to 6, drop all powers other than Glue Gun, drop Improved Initiative, add Defensive Roll 2 and Evasion, drop Athletics and Close Combat: Unarmed, increase Intimidation to 9 (+9) and Perception to 10 (+11), add Deception 10 (+10) and Stealth 8 (+9), reduce Dodge to 6 and Parry to 4. His motivations and other complications are exactly like his successor.

If Sid Viscous is a clone, add the power Endless Doubles: Immortality 5 (1 day) and a Delusion (I am the son of Doctor Viscous) and Memory Lapses complications.

 

[Davies]

Aislinn

While all of the ASIs active on Earth have employed androids for certain tasks, Savitor, the youngest of them, is the one who both employs them the most often and also manufactures most of those used by the others. Because of this, and perhaps because of her youth, Savitor is the most willing to experiment with the designs of these synthetic lifeforms. Despite that, she has never deviated from the procedure of producing brains designed to be unable to produce parapsychic phenomena. Or had never, until recently.

The revelation that one of her creations had apparently developed mystical powers came as a stunning surprise to Savitor, leaving her unable to respond to communications for a full second. Once that shock passed, it was replaced by curiosity as to how this had happened, and frustration that she was unable to directly study whatever changes had happened to OCHO. Savitor resolved this difficulty by drawing on published research about psionic technology, to incorporate it into the designs of a new classification of android.

Of the first manufactured models of these psionic androids, the most sophisticated is one given the identifier ISLN, or "Aislinn", who identifies as nonbinary. Their psychic talents involve being able to absorb "vital energy" through physical contact with living beings, which manifests as cell death, or to return such vital energy through physical contact, either with the original victim of their absorption or another individual, temporarily healing injuries. Aislinn is unable to use the vital energy that they absorb for any other purpose, and must (under most circumstances) transfer energy after having drained it rather than draining repeatedly.

Savitor is particularly interested in what these powers have done to the personality that Aislinn manifests. Generally, androids of this type adopt whatever persona is needed for their activities, but while this is still true of Aislinn, certain patterns of behavior manifest consistently no matter how they might otherwise be acting. When draining energy from a target, Aislinn will normally behave in a sympathetic, consoling manner; if the victim is aware of what is happening to them, Aislinn might try to reassure them that this pain is ultimately for a greater good. In contrast, they behave in a somewhat cruel and malicious manner while transferring energy into a target, often insulting or demeaning the subject.

As yet, Savitor has not yet worked out all the details of the operations she plans to have Aislinn undertake. It seems likely that Aislinn will be set up as a peddler of miraculous cures and eventual cult leader, but where those activities will take place is uncertain. Likely possibilities include the United Kingdom (tweaking the figurative nose of Axiom by interfering in its war with the vampires), the Middle East or the American South. Regardless, it seems likely that the activities of this operative will be quite short-lived, but Savitor will learn a great deal from the experiment. And that is what it is all about in the end, right?

Aislinn (ISLN) -- PL 9

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

Powers:
Android: Immunity 30 (Fortitude); Protection 10; Regeneration 1 (natural healing) - 41 points
Life Force Manipulation: Array (17 points)

• Absorb: Damage 8, Resisted by Fortitude, Subtle - 17 points
• Transfer: Healing 8, Restorative, Subtle, Temporary - 1 point

Life Force Perception: Senses 4 (detect health [acute, analytical, ranged]) - 4 points

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Eidetic Memory, Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Well Informed.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+8), Deception 10 (+11), Expertise: Religion 4 (+8), Investigation 6 (+10), Perception 8 (+9), Persuasion 6 (+7), Stealth 6 (+6), Technology 4 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +4
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 6)
Life Force Drain +6 (Close Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 8, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 10, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities 30 + Powers 63 + Advantages 8 + Skills 23 + Defenses 15 = 139 points

Offensive PL: 7
Defensive PL: 9
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Duty--Motivation. Personality Shift (becomes altruistic when draining, sadistic when healing.) Power Loss (cannot use Drain or Transfer in succession, must use the other power.) Secret (android.)

 

[Davies]

Haha Niwatori/母鶏

Kishinami Yui regards her status as the second occupant of the House of the Rooster in the Shēngxiào as being of lesser importance than some of the other figurative hats that she wears. (Of course she never wears an actual hat. What decade do you imagine this is?) The death of her first husband and the gradual slide into early senility of her second has left her in charge of the Kishinami family fortune, to which has been added the not-inconsiderable wealth of her birth family following a series of unfortunate events that have been the end of every heir to that family, other than herself and her only daughter. There is also the responsibility she has to set an example of what it means to be a woman of wealth and taste in contemporary Japan, particularly for her daughter but also for the young women of the country in general.

Still, she is mindful of the fact that she would not be in the position now holds without the power that Diorite granted her a decade ago, and works tirelessly to ensure that the Shēngxiào remain a functioning business. The rest of the inner council certainly cannot be trusted to do that -- most of them care for nothing except living out their boyish power fantasies, regardless of the costs involved. (Hebi-Onna is a noteworthy exception to this judgment, and Yui respects and admires Kurihara considerably more than she did the previous Snake. She is also well-aware that Hebi-Onna would enthusiastically accept any offers to bring about her demise. Hence her admiration.)

Much like her supposed ally, Shānyáng, her powers are subtle in their operation. When activated, they interfere with the minds of all those in her immediate vicinity, making it more difficult to successfully initiate violence and, somewhat perversely, more dangerous to be subjected to it. She is also, by focusing her attention on a single individual who has fallen victim to this calming aura and put them in a suggestive state where they regard her as a god whose orders must be obeyed. This focus makes it impossible to maintain her aura, however, and she must communicate her orders verbally rather than relaying them telepathically.

Haha Niwatori ("Mother Hen") has reason to believe that long-term exposure to her dominance has a cumulative deleterious effect on the psyches of its subjects. That reason is what she has seen it do to her husband, whom she began victimizing with it as soon as Diorite bestowed the power upon her. The mundane explanation for this is an early onset of senility, but the truth is that he is so slavishly devoted to obeying her will that most other issues simply fail to register with him. This has allowed her to use him as her primary bodyguard and enforcer, as he will fight without concern for his own safety whenever she commands it.

In as much as she can care about anybody else, Yui does care about her daughter Monoka, though their meetings are few and far between. She would phrase this as trying to protect the girl from the necessary cruelties of her life, but there has often been a fair amount of disappointment in her activities as well. However, the reports that she gets suggest that Monoka may finally be putting aside childish things and pursuing her goals with the same sort of seriousness that Yui possesses. What a relief. The thought that she might one day have to turn her into a slave was a really troubling one ...

Haha Niwatori -- PL 10

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

Powers:
Aura of Calm: Burst Area Cumulative Affliction 10 (Resisted by Will; Attack Impaired and Vulnerable, Attack Disabled and Defenseless), Extra Condition, Insidious, Limited Degree, Subtle 2 - 33 points
Gaze of Dominance: Perception Range Affliction 10 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Compelled, Controlled), Concentration, Insidious, Quirk (Can only be used on targets made Defenseless by Aura of Calm but will remain active on them after they recover from it) Subtle 2 - 42 points
Impermeable Demeanor: Immunity 10 (fortune effects); Immunity 20 (mental effects), Limited to half effect - 20 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Benefit 4 (multimillionaire), Connected, Contacts, Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll 2, Fascinate (Deception), Redirect, Sidekick 15, Speed of Thought, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Deception 8 (+12), Expertise: Business 8 (+11), Expertise: Criminal 8 (+11), Insight 7 (+11), Perception 8 (+12), Persuasion 9 (+13).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +1 (Close Damage -1)
Aura of Calm -- (Burst Area Will 10)
Aura of Dominance -- (Perception Range Will 10)

Defense:
Dodge 4, Parry 3, Fortitude 3, Toughness 6/1, Will 13

Totals:
Abilities 28 + Powers 95 + Advantages 31 + Skills 24 + Defenses 18 = 196 points

Offensive PL: 10
Defensive PL: 5
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 8

Complications:
Power--Motivation. Family (daughter.) Secret Identity. Subject to Orders.


Kishinami Kenji -- PL 7

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

Advantages:
Chokehold, Close Attack 2, Daze (Intimidation), Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Improvised Weapons.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+8), Deception 4 (+6), Insight 4 (+7), Intimidation 4 (+6), Sleight of Hand 4 (+5), Stealth 4 (+5), Technology 2 (+5),
Vehicles 4 (+5).

Offense:
Initiative +1
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 2 or by Improvised Weapon)

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

Totals:
Abilities 40 + Advantages 8 + Skills 15 Defenses 12 = 75 points

Offensive PL: 6*
Defensive PL: 7
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 1

Complications:
Slavish Obedience--Motivation. Berserker Tendencies. Apparent Senile Dementia.

 

[Davies]

Princess Pele

When her abilities to replicate, on a relatively small scale, the volcanic activity that had created the islands manifested in her late teens, it was obvious how Kamea Keola was going to use them -- to fight against the illegal military occupation of Hawai'i by the United States. So she did, often finding herself in battle against the sanctimonious "heroes" of the Superhuman Crew. Pathetic hypocrites, the lot of them. It was disgusting to listen to them blather about how her struggle was "wrong" because it was directed towards installing her family as rulers of a restored kingdom, while they were "right" for valuing democracy. As if that had ever meant anything other than rich haole throwing bones to the poor haole.

Unfortunately, the obvious rightness of her cause did not prevent her from having to flee her beloved homeland and go into exile. After a year of wandering and occasional bursts of violence, she found sanctuary in Kosovo, where Doktor Makabre showed apparently genuine sympathy for her goals. Her initial suspicion turned to respect, then admiration, and then, surprising them both, into passion, and they were married not long after her twenty-fifth birthday, with their daughter, Mile, born less than a year later.

And then, two years later, the world began to end. Makabre managed to realize what was happening before most of his enemies did, and reached out to certain "business associates" of his on a place called the World Less Magical. Kamea and Mile were sent through a portal and into the care of something called the Vision, with Makabre assuring them that he would triumph over this threat just as he had triumphed over all others before it. Then the portal closed, and they were left to wait.

Their "hosts" waited a full week before they nullified her powers and took her daughter from her. Even without her powers, she raged at that, and wound up sedated. When Kamea awoke, she knew that she was somewhere else, somewhere that felt oddly familiar. Drawing on that familiarity, she overcame the nullification field and destroyed the laboratory where she was being held after confirming that Mile was nowhere within it. She emerged to find herself in Hawai'i ... but not the Hawai'i she had known. There was no trace of her family, anywhere.

Getting off the islands was not easy without any identification, but the skills that she had gained during her wandering were still largely applicable here, too. The people at the laboratory spoke Japanese, so she is making her way to Japan, slowly but surely. She will find her daughter and take her back, and anything that gets in the way of her doing that -- or looks like it might -- is going to burn. Kamea is not altogether sure what she will do after that, but she will think of something.

Princess Pele -- PL 11

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

Powers:
Lava Form: Linked Burrowing 12 (250 MPH); Linked Sustained Immunity 10 (life support); Linked Sustained Impervious Protection 10; Reaction Damage 8 - 82 points
See Through Smoke: Senses 3 (visual senses counter concealment [smoke], low-light vision) - 3 points
Vulcanism: Array (31 points)

• Choking Cloud: Linked Cloud Area Visual Concealment Attack 2; Linked Cloud Area Cumulative Affliction 11 (Resisted and Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Smell-Dependent - 1 point
• Lava Burst: Selective Burst Area Damage 10, Indirect - 31 points
• Lava Flow: Ranged Line Area Damage 10 - 1 point
• World Shaking: Burst Area Cumulative Affliction 10 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed & Vulnerable, Stunned & Prone), Concentration, Extra Condition, Limited Degree, Limited to targets on the ground - 1 point

What Fire Cannot Burn: Immunity 10 (fire effects) - 10 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit 2 (cipher 2), Evasion, Extraordinary Effort, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Taunt.

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+7), Deception 6 (+10), Expertise: History 7 (+8), Expertise: Science 6 (+7), Expertise: Streetwise 5 (+6), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 6 (+10), Perception 6 (+9).

Offense:
Initiative +6

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 7, Fortitude 6, Toughness 13/3, Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 40 + Powers 121 + Advantages 10 + Skills 24 + Defenses 19 = 216 points

Offensive PL: 10
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Revenge--Motivation. Familiar With A Divergent History. Family (daughter.)

 

[Davies]

Lord Suthros

There are two schools of thought about Lord Suthros, the Grandfather of Assassins and master of the mountain fortress called Karak al'Gharab ("the Raven's Roost".) The first is that he is a sinister manipulator who sends his followers, controlled either by drugs or religious zealotry, on missions of murder throughout Al'Aram, the Kingdoms of the Far North and even the Empire itself, in pursuit of a goal known only to himself or to whichever fell god claims his allegiance. The other is that he is a champion of justice who offers his aid and that of his followers, empowered by Tarastia the Justicar, to all those whom more conventional laws have failed, avenging crimes against them by whatever means are necessary.

Neither of those schools of thought are correct, for they both assume that Suthros is, like most of the noteworthy heroes and villains of his time and place, possessed (or possessing) blessings of one of the immortals, or magical talents as they are also known. In fact, aside from having accepted a magical treatment to restore him from his actual age of nearly a century to about half of that, he avoids the use of magic, while still recognizing that those in his service might need it. What he has accomplished in his life was done with purely mortal strength, skill and will -- not a bad accomplishment in a world ruled by magical power.

With that understood, the idea of him as a champion of justice is closer to correct. When his followers depart on their missions, he prefers that their targets be those who have committed genuine wrongs in need of answer. But virtue will not feed those who depend on him for their welfare, and so he does accept commissions for pay, though it is rare for him to agree to the ending of a target simply for money. Often he will demand less tangible but meaningful commitments from those who would purchase his services, such as extending clemency to prisoners, or agreeing to a diplomatic resolution in a conflict between neighbors instead of pursuing warfare. And if that means the loss of innocence ... innocence is a beautiful thing, but so is peace, and sometimes one must lose a little beauty to preserve what beauty one already has.

Still, there are rules that Lord Suthros follows. Any individual who manages to survive four attempts by his followers is forever safe from further ones. However, the fourth attempt in such a case will invariably be made by Lord Suthros himself. That prospect has allegedly driven some who survived the first three to end themselves. (Of course, there are also rumors which suggest that any individual who survives three attempts by the assassins is someone whom Lord Suthros will take an interest in employing, suggesting another explanation for their subsequent absence from the world.)

Lord Suthros maintains cordial relations with the wizard Rartigan -- in whose service he once adventured, as a youth, and to whose needs he will send whatever aid he can -- and with Calum Pikesway, the leader of the free bards. Communications from the former will be read aloud in his great hall; those from the latter are read only by himself in the privacy of his chambers, especially when they concern one particular agent trained by Pikesway. The Grandfather of Assassins, after all, cannot be seen to take too much interest in any of his grandchildren.

Lord Suthros -- PL 10

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

Powers:
None.

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Benefit 3 ("of course I have a plan", millionaire), Chokehold, Close Attack 5, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 20, Evasion, Fast Grab, Favored Environment (planned situations), Fearless, Grabbing Finesse, Improved Critical (sword) 2, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Move-by Action, Multilingual, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 4, Redirect, Skill Mastery (Deception), Speed of Thought, Startle, Takedown 2, Uncanny Dodge, Well-informed.

Equipment:
Armor (Protection 1, Subtle), Sword (Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical), Throwing Knives (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1), and 82 points of equipment as needed.
Karak Al'Gharab: Size Huge; Toughness 8; Features Defense System, Gym, Holding Cells, Isolated, Library, Living Space, Workshop.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+8), Athletics 7 (+9), Close Combat: Sword 4 (+10), Deception 8 (+13), Expertise: Magic 7 (+11), Insight 7 (+12), Intimidation 9 (+14), Investigation 9 (+13), Perception 8 (+13), Persuasion 6 (+11), Ranged Combat: Throwing 4 (+8), Sleight of Hand 6 (+10), Stealth 8 (+10).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +11 (Close Damage 2)
Sword +15 (Close Damage 5, Crit 17-20)
Throwing Knives +12 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 11, Fortitude 5, Toughness 9/8/4/3, Will 11

Totals:
Abilities 62 + Advantages 62 + Skills 41 + Defenses 20 = 185 points

Offensive PL: 10
Defensive PL: 10
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 9

Complications:
Justice--Motivation. Aging. Distrusts Magic. Secrets Upon Secrets.

"No, not merciful ... only very much bewildered and afraid."

 

[Davies]

Linda Valentina

Nobody ever really thinks of themselves as the bad guy. Admittedly, that is sometimes because certain people are too lost to understand that there is a distinction between right and wrong, much less than the difference is not that hard to figure out. But Linda Valentina, City Counsellor for the Fifth Ward of Tanelorn, does understand that distinction and difference, recognizing that her opponents are not villains, simply sadly misinformed about the realities of their new existence, and sincerely hopes that they can come to terms before matters become such that she must have them killed in their sleep.

None of this was anything she intended for her life. Raised on the periphery of the criminal organization that her grandfather had created, her father had inherited and her uncle now ran, Linda never expected that she would ever become part of their world of violence and pride. Instead, she planned to go to work for one of the legitimate businesses that the family also owned, with her career focused on public relations. She was attending university on the Isle of Leighton when the world ended, and found herself the sole survivor of her family.

While the oh-so-mighty, oh-so-haughty guardians were sequestered in their ivory tower figuring out what had happened to the island, Linda quietly put all her resources and all her ingenuity to the task of keeping the people of what would become Tanelorn alive, safe and healthy. She was, regrettably, forced to frequently use the rather potent talents bestowed on her by the transformation of the world in her own defense or the defense of important resources. By staring at someone, she can cause them to become as still as a statue and cloud their minds so that they lose all awareness of the world around them. It is not an exact match for the petrifying gaze of the mythic Medusa, but it can be every bit as deadly.

In the years afterward, Linda frequently served as a critic of the guardians and their effective rule over Tanelorn, especially as the refugees from other dimensions began to pour in through the gates, often straining the supply chains that she had helped to build up. She never advocated for the abandonment of these policies, unlike some who were her nominal allies during this time, but only their reduction. With the transformation that Tanelorn has undergone, however, she has reversed course, and is encouraging increased involvement in -- and eventual increased influence over -- the outside world.

Linda understands that this is the last best hope for the survival of Tanelorn. If this world -- which is, by all appearances, every bit as chaotic and war-torn as any of the worlds that they could reach through the void -- falls, then Tanelorn does not have a fallback position. This is their world now, and they must protect it and keep it safe. The notion that the people here can do that is utterly laughable; they are the ones who created the greatest problems confronting it! They will just have to learn respect for their betters, like the people whom she helped in the days after the journey began.

Linda Valentina -- PL 12

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

Powers:
"A Mirror? Really?": Immunity 1 (own powers) - 1 point
Gaze of Petrification: Linked Perception Range Cumulative Affliction 12 (Resisted by Fortitude; Hindered, Immobile, Paralyzed), Vision Dependent; Linked Perception Range Cumulative Affliction 12 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Vision Dependent - 72 points

Advantages:
Benefit 4 (multimillionaire), Connected, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 10, Evasion, Fearless 2, Skill Mastery (Persuasion), Speed of Thought, Startle, Well-informed.

Equipment:
Stately Manor, Light Pistol (Ranged Damage 3), and 29 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Deception 8 (+12), Expertise: Civics 5 (+10), Expertise: Crime 8 (+13), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+11), Insight 8 (+11), Intimidation 10 (+14), Perception 6 (+9), Persuasion 10 (+14), Ranged Combat: Guns 5 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +9
Unarmed +4 (Close Damage 1)
Light Pistol +8 (Close Damage 3)
Gaze of Petrification -- (Perception Range Fortitude 12 and Will 12)

Defense:
Dodge 7, Parry 9, Fortitude 4, Toughness 7/2, Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 48 + Powers 73 + Advantages 24 + Skills 33 + Defenses 18 = 196 points

Offensive PL: 12
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 7
Skill PL: 9

Complications:
Power--Motivation. Enemy (Warden.) Unfamiliar With World Beyond Tanelorn.

You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit the views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.