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

[Davies]

Max Lalande

Max Lalande graduated from a Sydney-based thinktank in 1997; either this particular operation never employed loyalty conditioning techniques or they failed to take effect on him, because he left the facility and never looked back. After paying his respects to his late parents, who'd passed away while he was inside, he found employment with Professor Raymond Fenner as his lab assistant, and accompanied him on the expedition to Dread Island. Fenner did not confide his goals to him, and Max found himself every bit as jeopardized by his employer's plans as the crew from Adventures Unlimited.

In fairness, though, he was keeping a fairly large secret from Fenner, specifically the rudimentary telekinetic abilities that the meditative disciplines he'd learned at the think tank had unlocked. Desperate to find a weapon to help himself survive the rigors of Dread Island, Max decided to experiment with eating the same plant life as herbivorous kaiju, which he theorized (on very shaky grounds) would energize his own abilities in the same way that they empowered the kaiju. It worked, and he experienced a considerable burst of power, but the consequence has been a lingering dependence on the Dread Island fauna that he ate.

Ignoring that, Max leant his brains, in both a scientific and psychic manner, to the formation of the Discovery Company. The name was his his idea, embodying the way that he hoped they could use their abilities as explorers of the unknown, making the world (or at least Australia) safe by making it more known. He also set quite a few of the group's initial policies, convincing his teammates that 'secret identities' were ridiculous when they were operating in the public interest as they were. His outrage at Fenner's actions had left Max with a lingering anger and loathing for anyone who kept secrets.

He's since had cause to regret that decision, but has responded to the tragedies that have ensued by doubling down on his attitude. First, when the group were attacked by Saturn operatives in 2006, he suffered serious injuries that put him out of action for a year and disfigured his face. The man who hates secrets began to wear a face-covering mask to keep the public from panicking.

He'd just about gotten used to the cognitive dissonance of that when the team picked up its fifth member, the gadgeteer Iris Phillips, who assisted him with his experiments and, by showing no revulsion at the sight of his unmasked face, won his heart. Unfortunately, five years ago, she was critically injured on a mission, and it became apparent that she was an android! And the so-called Discovery Company wasn't able to figure out who had sent her to infiltrate their team before she self-destructed, leaving them with more questions than answers.

Max is, bluntly, burnt out. He keeps going largely out of inertia, but he is desperately in need of some time off from the team at minimum, and probably a lot of therapy. His diet of bizarre vegetation from Dread Isle (and, whisper it, kaiju meat) may not be doing his physical health any favors, either. Unfortunately, he's much too proud to seek the help that he needs, and so he is gradually falling apart, just like his team. Eventually, he's going to snap under the pressure, and what happens next will not be pleasant for anyone.

Max Lalande -- PL 9

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

Powers:
Basic Telekinesis: Move Object 9 - 18 points
Force Field: Sustained Impervious Protection 10 - 20 points
Levitation: Flight 7 (250 MPH), Distracting - 7 points
Telekinetic Techniques: Array (18 points)

• Telekinetic Column: Line Area 2 Damage 6 - 1 point
• Telekinetic Grab: Ranged Affliction 9 (Resisted by Dodge; Overcome by Damage; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobile), Concentration, Instant Recovery, Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point
• Telekinetic Pulse: Ranged Damage 9 - 1 point

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Fearless 2, Improved Initiative, Inventor, Leadership, Trance, Ultimate Effort (Will checks)

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+5), Expertise: Science 6 (+12), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 8 (+11), Ranged Combat: Telekinesis 8 (+9), Technology 6 (+12)

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 1)
Telekinetic Pulse +9 (Ranged Damage 9)
Telekinetic Column -- (Line Area Damage 6)
Telekinetic Grab +9 (Ranged Affliction 9, Resisted by Dodge)

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

Totals:
Abilities 34 + Powers 66 + Advantages 8 + Skills 18 + Defense 21 = 147 points

Complications:
Discovery--Motivation. Dependency (unusual diet, powers become Impaired and Disabled without it.) Fame. Hatred (deception and secrets). Horrifying Appearance.

 

[Davies]

Motley

After the Discovery Company, the best-known of Australia's few superheroes is probably Motley, an urban acrobat with lightly augmented coordination and physical prowess, who operates out of Sydney where they range over the whole continent and beyond. Famous for pelting his opponents with wisecracks as well as punches and kicks, his genuine heroism made him an easy ally of most of the Discoverers, and he frequently worked with him. (Max, of course, disliked the way that he kept a secret identity and the apparently unserious way that he approached things.) While sometimes viewed with suspicion by the Australian press, he is a largely beloved figure.

Unfortunately, this isn't him.

Two years ago, Dr. Anatole Correia, the notorious Mind Flayer, learned of Motley's secret identity as high school teacher Simon "Si" Simmons. Having fought Motley on and off for two decades, Correia was nearing the end of his life thanks to his repeated injuries suffered in their battles. He decided not to just go gently, but rather employed his telepathic powers to swap their minds so that Simmons would be stuck in his own dying body, while he would be in the young and vital form of his greatest enemy. And it worked, with Correia's original body quickly succumbing to the injuries sustained in their final confrontation.

But the experience was not what the Mind Flayer had expected it to be. He was unprepared for the fact that his consciousness would be directly exposed to Simmons' memories of his life, both the painful and uplifting ones. Correia's justifications for his cynicism and cruelty were shattered as he was shown how someone who had suffered as much as he had, if not more, had still chosen an altruistic and heroic path in life. He was forced to admit that Si Simmons was a better man than him, and that he had committed a crime that, for the first time, he deeply regretted.

Unfortunately, Simmons' consciousness was lost forever, and there was nothing that Correia could do to repair this. The only thing he could do to make amends for his terrible act, then, would be to live out the remainder of his life as he thought Simmons would have done, trying to be as heroic as him, and applying his greater intellect towards solving the problems of humanity, instead of his own selfish gain. Without regret, he stopped using the psionic technologies employed by the Mind Flayer, and became what he hoped would be a new and improved Motley.

Motley's friends and allies are aware that he's gone through a serious personality change in a few months, becoming increasingly focused on making sure that everyone knows about his accomplishments. They aren't sure what to make of it, and most of them hope that it's just a phase that he's going through in response to all the troubles in his private life (which Correia exploited in setting up the transfer.) None of them suspect that their friend is gone forever, and that someone else is running around inside his skin, engaged in a vainglorious quest to become a hero. Not yet, at least.

Motley -- PL 10

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

Powers:
Bag of Tricks: Array (14 points)

• "Mr. Sparky"/Overclocked Meta-Taser: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 7 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Unreliable--Limited Uses - 14 points
• Itching Powder Explosion: Cloud Area Affliction 6 (Resisted by Fortitude; Impaired & Vulnerable, Disabled & Defenseless), Extra Condition, Limited Degree, Triggered 2 - 1 point
• Gooey Spray: Cone Area Affliction 7 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage; Hindered & Vulnerable, Immobile & Defenseless), Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point
• Good Old-Fashioned Bomb: Burst Area Damage 6, Triggered 2 - 1 point

Jet Pack: Flight 7 (250 MPH), Removable (-3 points) - 11 points

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Grappling Finesse, Improved Initiative, Inventor, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Redirect, Set-Up, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+13), Athletics 8 (+10), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+13), Deception 10 (+15), Expertise: Science 7 (+13), Insight 8 (+11), Intimidation 7 (+12), Perception 9 (+12), Sleight of Hand 8 (+14), Stealth 8 (+13), Technology 9 (+15).

Offense:
Initiative +9
Unarmed +13 (Close Damage 2)
Overclocked Meta-Taser +11 (Ranged Fortitude 7)
Itching Powder Explosion -- (Cloud Area Fortitude 6)
Gooey Spray -- (Cone Area Affliction 7, Resisted by Dodge)
Bomb -- (Burst Area Damage 6)

Defense:
Dodge 13, Parry 13, Fortitude 5, Toughness 7/2, Will 12

Totals:
Abilities 76 + Powers 28 + Advantages 18 + Skills 43 + Defenses 24 = 190 points

Complications:
Fame--Motivation. Genuine Desire to be a Better Person. Secret Identity, And Then Some Secrets On Top of That.

 

[Davies]

Nick Grey

Nicholas Grey never knew his parents, growing up in the questionable care of an aunt and uncle in Surrey. They were never actually cruel to him, but never kind, either, and they just told him that his parents were dead. In 1996, however, the ten year-old boy was contacted by Christopher Potter, a self-proclaimed magus who'd known his parents, revealing that they'd died to stop the monstrous Baron Khan from seizing control of the United Kingdom when Nicholas was two years old. Potter claimed that Nicholas was a chosen one, destined to help finish the job his parents had started, and Nicholas eagerly agreed to help.

It was of course all lies. Christopher Potter was a magician of sorts, but he was first and foremost a secret agent of the British government, who taught his pupil just enough about magic to make him a danger to himself. His youth and apparent talent were bait to lure Baron Khan into a series of deadly traps that were supposed to eliminate him as a threat to the ambitions of Potter's employer. Nick found this out only after the fifth time Potter had 'killed' Khan, and specifically after the still living Khan confronted the two of them, revealing much of the truth in the process.

Potter shot himself rather than suffer whatever vengeance Baron Khan had in mind, abandoning Nick to their enemy's tender mercies. For a wonder, Baron Khan didn't kill him. Perhaps he believed that the boy, absent his master's influence, was no longer any real threat, and simply satisfied his anger by beating him within an inch of his life while demolishing what was left of his belief in Potter. Nick woke up in a hospital, realizing how badly he'd been used, and feeling lower than he could imagine. Every ideal had been crushed, every hope ruined. What was he supposed to do with his life now?

And then, while he was recovering from his injuries, Cerebron attacked. The hospital was spared the worst of it, and so it was here that the young woman who'd fought to save London was brought and treated, and otherwise left entirely alone. Nick wasn't sure why he approached her, beyond the fact that no one seemed to really care whether she lived or died. They were both alone in the world, and yet she'd tried to help people while all he'd been able to do was cower in helpless fear. He held her hand while she slept, willing her to heal. He still doesn't know if it worked or not.

It was a very different young man who left the hospital, a short while later. He started to study magic much more seriously than he ever had before, learning much about his talents that Potter had hidden from him. He wasn't the sort of magical soldier that Potter had tried to make of him, but a healer and seer, who could help others to fight the battles that needed to be fought. He found himself doing just that quite a bit over the next few years, and in the process reconnected with Jennifer Chase, now known as Blakestone, and also met Prydwen.

Nick's attitude towards life is very different from Jennifer's, which may contribute a bit towards the volatility of their relationship which will not be elaborated upon here lalala can't hear you. Nick has come to the conclusion that any immortality is probably just an illusion. Sooner or later, all things must perish, and even the 'one thing that never dies' of legend is something that will be remembered for only a few generations at best, in a tiny part of the world, on a speck of dust supported in a sunbeam. Ultimately, in the end, nothing matters.

Therefore, there is no reason in the world not to help people as much as you can. Nick can often be helping people out with things that Blakestone regards as incredibly trivial, never asking for a reward or even counting them as favors owed. This can sometimes result in frustration when his friends need his help for what they perceive as larger matters and he'd prefer to finish what he's doing rather than drop it, but they've had to learn to live with his decisions.

He also still wants to put a permanent end to Baron Khan, but because of what he's learned about the villain's actual goals rather than any imaginary wrongs done to him or his family. He's actually learned that his mother is still alive and supposedly holed up somewhere in Finland, and that his father, a mercenary, died only recently. What he's learned about them doesn't inspire him with any real urge to find out more ...

Nick Grey -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 1 | STA 4 | AGL 2 | DEX 0 | FGT 6 | INT 3 | AWE 5 | PRE 3

Powers:
Prophecy: Senses 4 (precognition), Unreliable - 2 points
Sorcery: Array (36 points)

• Free Your Mind: Simultaneous Perception Range Nullify Mind Control 9, Sustained - 1 point
• Healing Touch: Restorative Energizing Healing 9 - 36 points
• Healing Word: Perception Range Restorative Engergizing Healing 6 - 1 point
• Smithing Word: Perception Range Healing 9, Affects Objects Only - 1 point
• Wordsmithing: Comprehend Languages 4 - 1 point

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (independently wealthy), Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Extraordinary Effort, Inspire 2, Luck 4, Set-up, Teamwork.

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+10), Expertise: Magic 8 (+11), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+9), Insight 6 (+11), Intimidation 5 (+8), Investigation 6 (+9), Perception 4 (+9), Persuasion 5 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +2
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 7, Parry 9, Fortitude 6, Toughness 6/2, Will 12.

Totals:
Abilities 48 + Powers 42 + Advantages 11 + Skills 25 + Defenses 15 = 141 points

Complications:
Doing Good--Motivation. Enemy (Baron Khan.) Generous to a Fault. Relationship (Prydwen, Blakestone.) Reputation (cunning man.)

 

[Davies]

Maureen Summerisle

When she was four years old, Gwenno Summerisle was sent with her mother away from the Hebridean island which her ancestors had ruled since time immemorial (that being defined as the late 18th century) ostensibly because her father planned to divorce her mother and marry someone to give him a son, but actually because he had well-founded concerns for his family's safety, to say nothing of his own. As it happened, he was right to worry, as he was murdered the next year when the harvest failed that year, just as it had the previous year, despite all the desperate measures that had been taken. Summerisle's culture rather devolved after that, but it seems to have made a comeback, recently, under the guidance of a distant cousin of Maureen's grandfather. It would probably not be a good idea for her or any other claimant to the title to go back, though.

Regardless, Gwenno grew up in Nevada and had almost completely forgotten about her origins by the time that she turned eighteen and started trying out to be a showgirl. She managed to get hired by one of the smaller casinos, and then a somewhat larger one, and was actually making a fairly good life for herself when a chance encounter with someone she's never talked about ended that life forever, since pregnant women are not generally considered to be showgirl material. Unwilling to take the simple solution to this problem, she gave birth to her daughter, Maureen, in 1992, spent a year recovering and then went back to work as a dance school instructor. Maureen's father was not in the picture, but Gwenno married a poor but dishonest LVPD officer and established a relatively happy family life all the same.

When Maureen was eight, her younger brother went missing and has never been seen alive since. When she was twelve, her stepfather was killed in a shootout with some drug dealers. When she was fourteen, her mother was murdered by a serial killer. People she got close to while in foster care tended to meet unpleasant ends. She developed the belief that death was stalking her, showing her what he could and would eventually do to her. She decided not to go to that meeting quietly, and took up martial arts, at which she showed a surprising amount of talent. Sometimes, she felt herself shifting, becoming stronger, faster, harder.

At eighteen, she was finally had her long-expected meeting. Death, as it turned out, was actually a man -- a crazy man who claimed to have magical powers which he'd employed to bend the fates of those around Maureen so that they'd meet unpleasant ends. Apparently, the psychopath was acquainted with her biological father, and took a sick interest in the notion of claiming Mephistopheles' daughter as a bride. All that she had to do to make it stop would be to marry him, and then --

Actually, she didn't bother listening to the rest. She proceeded to beat her tormentor half-way to death, at which point he gurgled out a threat that if he died the curse would never end, and that no one she loved would ever be safe. "Okay," she said, and then beat him the other half-way.

Ever since then, Maureen has ambled around North America in a series of cars that she obtains through fair means or foul, looking for people who have problems with what she considers to be monsters, and helping them out -- for a fee that she sets based upon a completely arbitrary assessment of her 'clients'. She is definitely not a superhero, and regards the capes-and-tights crowd with disinterested contempt. By and large, she preys upon low-powered supers who've completely lost their minds following their mutation, but she has also encountered werewolves, vampires, witches, apparent ghosts and so-called fairies. Whatever the opponent, if someone is willing to pay her to take it on, she does so. If not, then not.

Maureen has never met her alleged father -- either of him -- and has been noted to stay out of San Francisco. She has crossed paths with Dame Beatrice Barrowman, and wants to kill her. One important factor of Maureen's attitude is that once she decides that someone is a monster deserving of death, they are on that list for life, and nothing -- not the most saintly behavior -- will get someone off of it. While she worked with Argus agents during Dracula's recent activities in New York, and didn't attack Dame Beatrice when there were all sorts of people around who would have tried to separate the two of them, she spent the entire episode glaring cold death in the old witch's direction, and getting the same cold glare from her bodyguard.

Sort of a shame. He's kinda cute. Oh well.

Maureen Summerisle -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 2/0 | STA 4/0 | AGL 5/1 | DEX 3/1 | FGT 7/3 | INT 1 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
"Become Who You Were Born to Be": Enhanced Characteristics 16 (Agility 4, Dexterity 2, Fighting 4, Stamina 4, Strength 2), Subtle, Activation (Move Action) - 32 points
Find Weakness: Strength-based Damage 4; Enhanced Advantage 4 (Close Attack 4) - 8 points
Monster-Killing Dance: Enhanced Advantage 3 (Evasion 2, Move-by Action); Enhanced Defenses 4 (Dodge 2, Parry 2) - 7 points
Resistance: Immunity 1 (vampiric blood drain); Immunity 20 (mental effects), Limited to Half Effect - 11 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Close Attack 4, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 2, Evasion 2, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Initiative, Improvised Weapon 2, Languages 2, Move-by Attack, Power Attack, Redirect, Takedown 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge

Equipment:
Frequently-Replaced Car: Size Large; Strength 5; Speed 5 (ground); Defense 8; Toughness 8 - 10 points

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11/+7), Athletics 6 (+8/+6), Deception 8 (+10), Expertise: Magic 5 (+7), Expertise: Streetwise 5 (+6), Insight 6 (+9), Perception 4 (+7), Persuasion 8 (+10), Vehicles 6 (+9/+7).

Offense:
Initiative +9/+5
Unarmed +11/+7 (Close Damage 6/4)
Improvised Weapon +11/+7 (Close Damage 7/5)

Defense:
Dodge 9/7/3, Parry 9/7/3, Fortitude 6/2, Toughness 9/5/4/0, Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 22 + Powers 58 + Advantages 15 + Skills 27 + Defenses 10 = 132 points

Complications:
Vengeance, Or Something Like That--Motivation. Cursed to Bring Doom to Those She Loves, and So Loves No One.* Power Loss (Monster-Killing Dance, if she's not committed to killing the target.) Reputation (heartless mercenary.) Vindictive.

* Just to be clear, it's not clear at all whether she's actually cursed in this manner. Frankly, voluntary emotionally detachment from everyone around her is probably a curse in and of itself.

 

[Davies]

Helice

Compared to some superheroes, Tina Wilson has had a remarkably mundane life. Born in 1985, her telepathic powers began to emerge in her early adolescence, and were almost at their current level in 2003, when she was recruited by the Department of Defense to become the only female member of the United Supermen of America, tasked with keeping the group safe from psychic intrusion and subversion as well as acting as its lead investigator. As she'd already engaged in a certain amount of mystery-solving in her teens, none of this seemed all that difficult. Her biggest issue in this period was how uncomfortable she was with the constant public attention focused on her team.

When the group dissolved in 2007, it came as something of a relief. Unfortunately, that was followed up by the major headache of being hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to basically serve as a living lie detector. She wasn't allowed to probe anyone without their express permission -- not that she would have, regardless of rules -- just monitor people who were being interviewed to determine whether they were lying in response to specific questions. Tina found herself a bit horrified as she came to realize how many people who worked for the Bureau were such consummate liars as to be able to fool her telepathy.

After three years of this, she was more than ready for a change, and accepted Thomas Dore's invitation to come work with him again at Heroic Enterprises. She was back in the thick of the group's investigations again, and leading a much less sedate life, but it was enjoyable ... right up until it wasn't anymore. After three years of that, she decided that she'd had enough of this and handed in her resignation. Later, when she read about the business with the bridge, she briefly wondered if she could have prevented that if she'd stayed around, then reminded herself to only look forward, never back.

These days, Tina makes her home in Attica, Indiana, and acts as the semi-official superhero of the nearby city of LaFayette. She doesn't have to use much in the way of violence in the course of her job, while discreetly making sure that the local police force on which she relies for support is more honest and ethical than the national average. She also works to keep an eye on all the surrounding counties, paying considerable attention to anything that might be going on in haunted Delphi. So far, she hasn't found anything going on there, but she thinks it likely that just means that the Pythonian remnants are smart enough to avoid their former base. That's not a good thing, all around.

Helice has good relations with Darkwing, who contacts her for assistance when he requires a discreet telepath, which Basilea generally isn't. She wasn't particularly close to True Believer when they both worked at Heroic Enterprises, she felt a great deal of sympathy once the other left the company, and has spoken with her several times since then, offering support and consultation. She respects the work True is doing with the Minor League, knowing very well that this is not something she could ever do. She is just plain done with teams, though she has no objection to partnerships.

Helice's telepathic ethics allow her to read surface thoughts without any qualms -- it's not any different from being attentive towards people's facial expressions or body language. The same is true of using someone else's senses. She only permits herself to probe further if she encounters surface thoughts which indicate hostility towards another person who is actually present or if someone is contemplating a criminal act. Nothing of what she discovers through any of these methods is accepted as evidence in a trial, and so she must discover proof of intent or action if she wants to see criminal charges laid. Fortunately, she's kind of good at that.

Helice -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 0 | STA 2 | AGL 3 | DEX 2 | FGT 5 | INT 3 | AWE 6 | PRE 5

Powers:
Shielded Mind: Impervious Will 10, Limited to mental effects - 5 points
Telepathic Communication: Selective Area Mental Communication 3; Comprehend Languages 3 (understands and 'speaks' all languages) - 27 points
Telepathic Defenses: Enhanced Advantages 10 (Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 2, Seize Initiative); Enhanced Defenses 16 (Dodge 8, Parry 8); Senses 2 (acute psychic awareness) - 28 points
Telepathic Feats: Array (34 points)

• Mind Blast: Perception Range Damage 8, Resisted by Will, Subtle - 1 point
• Mind Probe: Cumulatative Mind Reading 11, Subtle - 34 points
• Paralysis: Perception Range Cumulative Affliction 8 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Paralyzed), Subtle - 1 point
• Phantasms: Illusion 8 (all senses), Feedback, Resisted by Will, Selective - 1 point
• Sensory Link: Remote Viewing 8 (all senses), Medium (living mind), Subtle - 1 point

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (well-off), Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Fearless, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 2, Seize Initiative, Trance, Ultimate Effort (Will checks).

Skills:
Deception 4 (+9), Expertise: Psychology 5 (+8), Insight 5 (+11), Investigation 4 (+7), Perception 5 (+11), Persuasion 5 (+10)

Offense:
Initiative +11/+3
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 0)
Mind Blast -- (Perception Range Damage 8, Resisted by Will)
Paralysis -- (Perception Range Will 8)

Defense:
Dodge 15/7, Parry 13/5, Fortitude 5, Toughness 7/2, Will 13

Totals:
Abilities 52 + Powers 98 + Advantages 5 + Skills 14 + Defenses 14 = 183 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Code of Honor (telepathic ethics.) Fame. Power Loss (Telepathic Defenses, against non-intelligent beings or those with Immunity to mental effects.)

 

[Davies]

The Reaper

Around the start of the Millar administration came the earliest reports of a lethal vigilante acting against mundane criminals in the New York metropolitan area, much as the notorious Hazard had operated against Pythonian-backed criminal operations thirty years before that. While many superheroes have considered taking action against this murderer, none have successfully tracked him down ... and some have gone missing while trying to do so. Basilea has argued that the Powerhouse should consider him a priority target at meetings, but the group has collectively concluded that they have higher priorities at the moment. This may be a terrible mistake.

Blake Rogers was born in 1966, a military brat whose father was serving in Vietnam and whose mother was a member of the Stardust Crusaders. This caused a certain amount of cognitive dissonance in the child when, at the age of five, his father was one of thousands of American servicemen killed during the Battle of Vietnam. His mother avoided jailtime for her association with the Crusaders, and started to devote her life to more conventional religion, but her son never forgave her for having worshipped what had killed his father.

Rogers enlisted in the marines right out of high school, and his performance at Camp Pendleton ensured that he was tapped for the Joint Special Operations Taskforce. He was glad to be given the chance to fight against the latest form of the evil that had claimed his father's life, which he defined as the worship of the super-powered. Given the number of super beings among the Pythonian Insurrection's hierarchy, and the fact that they had partially emerged from the Stardust Crusaders, there was a certain logic to this position. However, he was also noted for his expressed disgust and distrust of the handful of superhumans active among JSOTs allies. This kept him out of the Mars operation, for example, though all hands were employed in the attack on Delphi.

He returned to the Marine Corps after the Insurrection's end, and served a number of terms in Syria, noted for courage under fire. His career in the corps ended in 1999 under something of a cloud, after he exposed certain criminal acts committed by his superiors and was forced out. A later reinvestigation would suggest that he had actually worked to frame those superiors for acts he'd undertaken, but the truth remains somewhat nebulous after a number of classified files concerning his service record were destroyed during Billie Zane's coup.

After leaving the corps, Rogers found employment with Argus, but quickly grew disenchanted with the way that the organization existed in symbiosis with the superhuman plague rather than attempting to extirpate it. His attitude naturally resulted in him being drawn into Zane's conspiracy, and he rose within it. How he reconciled his hatred for superhumans with loyalty to an obvious Hyperbrain is known only to him, but it seems that he either sincerely believed Zane's claims to normalcy or regarded her as a lesser evil to be exterminated later. Regardless, he became an accomplished killer for her cause, and faked his own death as she had.

As he entered his fifties, Rogers began to feel his years and believed that he wasn't doing enough personally to bring about the end of the superhuman hegemony. Understanding this perspective, even though she didn't share it, Zane provided him with a chemical treatment she dubbed Revitalix, which restored him to the vigor he'd possessed in his thirties. (She neglected to mention that it was based on her studies of the work of Doctor Genome.) With restored youth came a more direct attitude, and so he created the identity of the Reaper, hunting down criminals whose actions didn't benefit Zane's organization, as well as using the killings as bait to attract superhumans whom he could capture, torture and eventually kill. He's doing what he loves, and is finally living his best possible life.

Blake Rogers has no idea that Zane has several clones of him prepared to take his place if he dies in this juvenile crusade. She may have already had to activate the first one.

The Reaper -- PL 10

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

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Assessment, Benefit (Cipher), Close Attack 2, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 10, Evasion 2, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Sniper Rifle), Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Precise Attack 4 (Close and Ranged; Cover and Concealment), Ranged Attack 4, Takedown, Throwing Mastery 4, Ultimate Aim, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Arsenal: Array (16 points)

• Flash-Bang Grenades: Ranged Burst Area Dazzle 4 - 16 points
• Assault Rifle: Ranged Multiattack Damage 5 - 1 point
• Combat Knife: Strength-Based Damage 2, Improved Critical - 1 point
• Fragmentation Grenades: Ranged Burst Area Damage 5 - 1 point
• Heavy Pistol: Ranged Damage 4 - 1 point
• Sleep Gas Grenades: Ranged Cloud Area Sleep 4 - 1 point
• Smoke Grenades: Ranged Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4 - 1 point
• Sniper Rifle and Targeting Scope: Ranged Damage 5, Improved Aim, Improved Critical - 1 point
• Tear Gas Grenades: Ranged Cloud Area Affliction 4 - 1 point

Body Armor: Protection 4 - 4 points
Commlink: Feature 1 (Communication) - 1 point
Mini-Tracers: Feature 1 (Tracking) - 1 point
Rebreather: Immunity 2 (Suffocation), Limited to half effect - 1 point
Motorcycle: Size Medium; Strengh 1; Speed 6 (ground); Defense 10; Toughness 8; Feature Smokescreen - 11 points
8 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+12), Athletics 8 (+11), Close Combat: Blades 4 (+10), Deception 6 (+9), Expertise: Criminal 8 (+9), Expertise: Military 7 (+8), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+9), Insight 8 (+10), Intimidation 9 (+12), Perception 8 (+10), Ranged Combat: Guns 7 (+11), Sleight of Hand 8 (+12), Stealth 9 (+13), Technology 8 (+9), Vehicles 6 (+10)

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 3)
Assault Rifle +15 (Ranged Damage 5)
Knife +12 (Close Damage 5, Crit. 19-20)
Pistol +15 (Ranged Damage 4)
Sniper Rifle +15 (Ranged Damage 5, Crit. 18-20)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 10, Fortitude 7, Toughness 9/7/5/3, Will 9

Totals:
Abilities 52 + Advantages 41 + Skills 56 + Defense 20 = 169 points

Complications:
Hatred--Motivation. Dependence (must take regular doses of Revitalix, or suffer Weaken Physical Abilities 3.) Sadism. Subject to Orders.

 

[Davies]

Jeremiah Wander

Jeremiah Wander -- occultist and adventurer. Friend to Geoffrey Tempest, who novelized their adventures in a series of popular paperback novels of the 1960s. Mentor to Diane Fortune, staunch ally to Captain Mystic, and occasionally consulted by other members of the Institute on his areas of expertise. Occasional enemy and rumored romantic partner of Dame Beatrice Barrowman, and well-known foe of Baron Khan and Ayesha the Eternal. This is a man whose life touched many others in many different ways.

And so it is something of a surprise that so little is known about the life of the man himself. Geoffrey Tempest believed that Jeremiah was perhaps a year or so younger than himself when they met in 1963, but eight years later he would comment that the other man hardly seemed to have aged a day since then, rendering all speculation about his actual age pointless. He also believed that Jeremiah was a native New Yorker, and of fairly high class, though the latter may have been Tempest's own class prejudices talking. On the other hand, he was wealthy enough to maintain a brownstone in New York without apparent support.

Complicating the matter further are persistent, unanswered questions about what Jeremiah Wander actually did. His heroic deeds were chronicled, of course, but not only did Geoffrey Tempest invent a number of the stories in his series of novels, he also changed names and facts to slightly obscure the truth. And it's not clear how much of the truth that Tempest knew in the first place; the novels clearly depicted Tempest as entirely reliant on Wander's explanations about the phenomena that they encountered, and Wander may not have revealed everything he knew about them, or possibly just been mistaken in his conclusions.

Subsequent investigators, including Blakestone and Maureen Summerisle, have revisited some of the sites of Wander's exploits, and reached varying conclusions about what actually happened there, informed by their varying attitudes towards Wander's legacy. Blakestone regards him as something of a role model, while Maureen has referred to him as a screw-up who often left things half-done, though that might be because of the way that she favors much more lethal solutions than Wander did. No one has had the courage to ask Geoffrey Tempest what he thinks about his old friend, these days.

Jeremiah Wander was apparently killed during the Battle of Vietnam, not long after the death of Diane Fortune. However, in the years since, his astral form has been seen and even conversed with many people, offering counsel and reassurance to those engaged in mystical adventures, while also passing on warnings to those that are treading dangerous paths. Exelion is apparently acquainted with a method of contacting him but has not shared the details of this with anyone. Questions about the man's current situation will be politely rebuffed with statements that he has not come to talk about himself, but about the situation in which those he addresses finds themselves. The most detailed answer that he has ever given anyone about it was in response to a query from Robin Hood, where he expressed the idea that he was an idea in the mind of God.

"But aren't we all?" asked Robin.

"No," Wander replied. "Not all."

Jeremiah Wander -- PL 11

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

Powers:
Astral Projection: Remote Sensing 10 (1000 miles; Auditory, Mental, Visual), Limitation (physical body is helpless), Dimensional, Subtle 2; Mental Communication 3, Dimensional - 47 points
Magical Spells: Array (30 points)

• Dispel Magic: Perception Range Nullify 6, Broad (Magic), Simultaneous - 30 points
• Ghost Hands: Perception Range Move Object 9, Precise, Subtle 2 - 1 point
• Mystic Bindings: Ranged Affliction 14 (Resisted by Will; Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless and Immobile), Accurate 2, Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point
• Mystical Blast: Ranged Damage 14, Accurate 2 - 1 point
• Phantasms: Illusion 6 (Auditory, Visual), Area (125 cubic feet), Resistible by Will, Selective - 1 point
• Sensing: Cumulative Mind Reading 10 - 1 point

Mystic Awareness: Senses 3 (Mystic Awareness, Analytical, Radius) - 3 points
Warding: Sustained Protection 14, Subtle, Activation (Standard Action) - 13 points

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (independently wealthy), Contacts, Equipment 3, Fearless, Ranged Attack, Ritualist, Trance, Ultimate Effort (Will checks), Well-Informed.

Equipment:
New York Brownstone: Size Medium; Toughness 10; Features Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Secret, Security System, Workshop - 11 points

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+7), Expertise: Magic 8 (+12), Insight 6 (+12), Intimidation 5 (+9), Investigation 8 (+11), Perception 7 (+13), Persuasion 6 (+10), Stealth 7 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 1)
Mystical Blast +8 (Ranged Damage 14)
Mystical Bindings +8 (Ranged Will 14)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 6, Fortitude 6, Toughness 16/2, Will 13

Totals:
Abilities 48 + Powers 98 + Advantages 12 + Skills 25 + Defenses 18 = 201 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Friend (Geoffrey Tempest). Mysterious and Enigmatic.

Author's Note: The profile above describes Jeremiah Wander before 1971. As far as is known, he has not used any powers aside from his Astral Projection (which has become Remote Sensing 13 and Mental Communication 4) and Sensing since then. His precise physical condition is a complete mystery.

 

[Davies]

And that is that, for a while. I'm going to be taking a break from this project until late December, to recover my forces and focus on the holiday season.

 

[Davies]

Thriller

The first act of George Hama's life has already been described in the biography of Kiyohime. Following the end of the Pythonian Insurgency, he resigned his commission in the Marines and quietly retired to a cabin in a remote part of Alaska. Occasional attempts were made, both by representatives of Argus and the Corps, to persuade him to either become an operative or return to duty, but he answered these with the same stony silence that he gave everything else. Aside from these visits, and trips to a nearby town to purchase supplies, he had very little human contact over the next fifteen years.

He did not abandon the martial arts training that he'd learned, though he began to explore its more meditative aspects. Towards the end of this period, according to a letter he sent to Shannon Hazzard, he realized that he was maintaining a level of physical ability well beyond what a man of his age should be able to achieve, even with constant physical exercise. In 2005, when he turned fifty, he had to admit that he was aging at a much slower pace than he should have been. Whether because of one of the many unusual situations he'd encountered during his years of service, something he'd learned in his training, or something innate to him, he had become more than human. He wanted to view this as irrelevant to the life he was living.

But George was not totally unaware of what was going on in the world during his self-imposed exile from it. He couldn't avoid knowledge of how superheroes had returned, of the threats that had emerged to the world and its peoples. Returning to the life of violence he'd managed to escape didn't appeal to him, but he had joined the Corps, and later JSOT, because he believed that he had a duty to use his skills in the defense of others. He'd done that, and despite how it had all turned out, he still believed that he should be putting his talents to some use. But how could he reconcile this with a desire to never do anyone any harm again?

And then he read about the great race that the Blue Bolt and Paragon had undertaken, racing around the world to raise money for charity, and the idea of using his gifts for that end, all the time, struck him. He contacted some old associates, Shannon among them, and with their help he was able to create the masked identity of Thriller, the masked stuntman who would undertake any risk to raise money for charitable purposes. Finally, there was a little more color in George's life, and he endured the situations where he had to deal with supervillains or more mundane criminals as simply an additional complication in the life he was choosing to live.

While not technically a superhero, Thriller will always choose to help someone in need of it over engaging in showmanship, though he's often found a way to do both. He doesn't deliberately seek out situations where he needs to fight crime, though he'll make an exception if he hears that the Reaper is active in the same area that he is. The two of them have clashed repeatedly and both have figured out the other's identity from their time in the same unit. (They weren't ever friends, but did work together on several occasions.) He has also made attempts, at Shannon's urging, to seek out the Nightstalker, but is increasingly skeptical that there's anything left of a man who was a friend of his left in the creature.

Thriller -- PL 10

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

Powers:
Inner Reserves: Array (3 points)

• Healing Boost: Regeneration 3 - 3 points
• Speed Boost: Speed 3 (16 MPH) - 1 points
• Strength Boost: Enhanced Strength 3, Tiring - 1 point

Longevity: Immunity 1 (aging) - 1 point

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Chokehold, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 5, Evasion, Fearless 2, Improved Aim, Improved Disarm, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improvised Tools, Languages 3 (American English Sign Language, Japanese, Spanish, others [English is native]), Move-by Action, Power Attack, Prone Fighting, Ranged Attack 5, Redirect, Skill Mastery 4 (Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Vehicles), Tracking, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Armorweave Costume (Protection 2, Subtle) and 22 points of equipment as needed (typically a vehicle used in his current stunt.)

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+12), Athletics 8 (+10), Close Combat: Unarmed 5 (+13), Deception 8 (+10), Expertise: Military 6 (+8), Expertise: Streetwise: 6 (+8), Intimidation 6 (+10), Insight 6 (+9), Investigation 6 (+8), Perception 8 (+11), Ranged Combat: Guns 4 (+7), Sleight of Hand 9 (+12), Stealth 8 (+12), Technology 6 (+8), Treatment 4 (+6), Vehicles 8 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +13 (Close Damage 5/2)

Defense:
Dodge 11, Parry 12, Fortitude 7, Toughness 8/6/6/4, Will 9

Totals:
Abilities 56 + Powers 6 + Advantages 36 + Skills 59 + Defenses 20 = 177 points

Complications:
Charity--Motivation. Doesn't Speak. Enemy (the Reaper) Fame. Secret Identity.

 

[Davies]

Megawatt

By all accounts, in 2005 Steve Jovanovich was a fairly typical teenager, growing up in Newark as the only child of a single mother. (All attempts to determine the identity of his father have failed.) He got along with his friends, worked in a part-time job, and did fairly well in school, showing some promise in the sciences. And then, while attending a science exhibition devoted to the work of Nikola Tesla, the accident happened. A machine overloaded and discharged several million volts of electricity into Steve and several other onlookers.

Stunningly, Steve was only left in a coma for a few days, and no one else was seriously injured. When he awoke, Steve found himself bursting with energy. He could absorb, generate and direct electrical energy, even (somehow) using it to augment his own strength and endurance. Naturally, he swore to use these powers for the betterment of humanity, and embarked on a career of crimefighting as Megawatt, the Electric Excitement. His mother, whom he immediately told his secret identity, was a bit startled by the sudden change in her son's behavior -- he'd never been so impulsive before -- but believed that he was doing good.

Unfortunately, the editor-in-chief of The Star Ledger disagreed, and engaged in quite a bit of slanted, unfair criticism of the young hero. Megawatt claimed not to care about this, but his mother realized that he was actually hurt by the insults. She decided to do something about that, and contacted a reporter for the paper whom she knew, offering him an exclusive interview with Megawatt's mother, in the belief that this would counteract the editor's attacks. She was given a guarantee that her anonymity would be respected.

It wasn't.

It only took two days after the interview blowing Steve's secret identity was published for a criminal who'd narrowly escaped him in the past to break into the Jovanovich apartment in an attempt to kidnap Megawatt's mother, accidentally killing her. Megawatt caught him and turned him over to the police, but then he went after the person he actually blamed for the death, breaking into the paper's newsroom and grabbing hold of the editor-in-chief. To this day, it's not clear whether he deliberately electrocuted the man, or whether this was the first documented manifestation of his tendency to lose control of his powers. The results were the same, regardless.

Megawatt was finished as a hero, and he was in no mood to answer to the authorities for what he claimed had been an accident. He went on the run, hunted by former allies and enemies alike. His anger over what had happened congealed into spite and contempt for the world, and he became the menace that The Star Ledger had portrayed him as being, as well as a feared criminal mastermind. He has been captured, but never held for long, and never actually tried for the crime which began his reign of terror.

While originally independent, a confrontation with Hadron that turned into a conversation led to Megawatt becoming a lieutenant in the old man's organization, albeit one who still usually acts on his own. Conscious of Hadron's advancing age, he fully intends to take over the group when the Radioactive Raider finally kicks the bucket, and to turn it into a much more active criminal organization. He's still loyal enough to Hadron that he doesn't want to speed that day up, though a good part of that is his belief that he doesn't actually have to.

And before you ask, no, the editor of The Star Ledger wasn't connected to Billie Zane. He was just an naughty word.

Megawatt -- PL 12

Abilities:
STR 9/0 | STA 12/3 | AGL 3 | DEX 2 | FGT 7 | INT 2 | AWE 0 | PRE 2

Powers:
Arc Riding: Leaping 12 (4 miles) - 12 points
Electrical Absorption: Immunity 10 (electrical effects); Reaction Energizing Healing 10, Limited to Self, Source (Electricity) - 50 points
Electrical Control: Array (36 points)

• Ball Lightning: Ranged Burst Area Damage 12 - 36 points
• Electrical Aura: Reaction Damage 9 - 1 point
• Lightning Flash: Ranged Burst Area Cumulative Affliction 12 (Resisted by Fortitude; Visually Impaired, Visually Disabled, Visually Unaware), Limited to One Sense - 1 point
• Mega-Taser: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 12 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) - 1 point
• Power Drain: Burst Area Nullify Technology 12, Broad - 1 point

Power Boost: Linked Enhanced Strength 9, Fades; Lnked Enhanced Stamina 9, Fades - 18 points

Advantages:
Defensive Attack, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Fearless, Improved Initiative, Startle.

Skills:
Deception 5 (+7), Expertise: Criminal 8 (+10), Expertise: Science 6 (+8), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+8), Intimidation 8 (+10), Perception 7 (+7), Ranged Combat: Electrical Control 8 (+10), Stealth 6 (+9).

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 9/0 and Reaction Damage 9)
Ball Lightning -- (Ranged Burst Area Damage 12)
Lightning Flash -- (Ranged Burst Area Fortitude 12)
Mega-Taser +10 (Ranged Fortitude 12)

Defense:
Dodge 10, Parry 9, Fortitude 14/5, Toughness 12/3, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities 38 + Powers 99 + Advantages 6 + Skills 27 + Defense 19 = 199 points

Complications:
Power--Motivation. Power Loss (all, when surrounded by conductive or insulating materials.) Uncontrolled Power.