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

[Davies]

Naharuk

As has already been mentioned, first contact between the Vaask Hegemony and the Technate occurred in 1987, when the TSV Adventure, under the command of Arlan Hayez, first fought against and then allied with the HSS Pahant, under the command of Naharuk. Over the next decade, Hayez would have several other encounters with his opposite number, sometimes under less than friendly terms but more often in situations where they were required to resolve their differences in the name of mutual survival. In the years since then, Hayez has often wondered what happened to his rival, usually imagining that he has risen to a similar position in the Vaaskorium as that which Hayez himself now occupies.

Nope. While it is recognized within the Hegemony that these encounters helped to establish the cautious peace that exists between these two stellar powers, the Vaaskorium does not reward its officers who achieve diplomatic victories. It likely did not help matters that Naharuk, rose to command the Pahant under somewhat suspicious circumstances -- specifically, he assumed command just a week* before the encounter with the Adventure, following the death of its previous captain. Naharuk claimed that the other Vaask died in an accident, but the former captain had politically influential friends who whispered a rather different narrative.

Ironically, had Naharuk claimed to have killed his former superior, as long as the tale was told in a certain way, he might have won more respect from his peers than he did through his insistence that it had been a simple misfortune. While this sort of promotion is only supposed to occur in highly ceremonial duels, there have also been many examples of the elimination of incompetent or corrupt superiors leading to promotion, with the irregularities being overlooked. Naharuk faced a number of these sorts of challenges during his time in the Vaaskorium, and prevailed each time, but such triumphs could not erase the stigma of his insistence of innocence in that first episode.

The truth was that he really was innocent. Naharuk had joined the Vaaskorium without any ambitions of martial glory, but out of a genuine desire to see as much of the universe as he could. While as competitive as any Vaask, he took no real pleasure in mortal combat, preferring to have to opportunity to demonstrate his talents to the opponent -- whether fellow Vaask or foreigners -- over and over again. He was also reflective and given to original thinking; the phrase with which he agreed to work with Hayez, "None but fools do battle in a thunderstorm," was of his own coinage, not a proverb.

So it was that, after fifteen years* in the Vaaskorium, Naharuk finally accepted that he was never going to rise any further and separated himself from the service. He spent his accumulated prize money to purchase a civilian exploratory vessel and outfit it with a small crew, then started working as a private scout in the Unclaimed Regions, which has kept him busy for the last two decades*. His voyages have been profitable, both financially and in the sense of expanding the knowledge of the Hegemony. He sometimes broods on the likelihood that what he has learned and reported back home will someday cause harm to the planets that he has visited and their various indigenous species, when the Vaaskorium seeks to subjugate them.

Recently, he intercepted a hyperspace messenger drone of Konan manufacture that, when its messages were decoded, spoke of a startling defeat suffered by a Konan battlegroup in an obscure planetary system. Interesting news -- extraordinarily interesting! Naharuk wonders what else might be going on there ... and whether it would be worth it to visit.

Naharuk -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Claws: Strength-based Damage 1 - 1 point
Hide: Impervious Toughness 2 - 2 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Equipment 22, Fearless, Improved Initiative, Leadership, Multingual, Power Attack, Teamwork, Well-informed.

Equipment:
Blaster Rifle (Ranged Damage 8), Body Armor (Protection 4), Starship (see below) and 13 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+5), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+8), Expertise: Galactic 7 (+11), Expertise: Military 5 (+9), Expertise: Philosophy 6 (+10), Insight 8 (+11), Intimidation 7 (+10), Investigation 4 (+8), Perception 5 (+8), Ranged Combat: Blaster 6 (+8), Stealth 4 (+6), Technology 3 (+7), Vehicles 5 (+8)

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

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

Totals:
Abilities 54 + Powers 3 + Advantages 28 + Skills 29 + Defenses 15 = 129 points

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

Complications:
Discovery--Motivation. Competitive. Responsibility (crew.)

Kavrholat-class Exploration Vessel - 79 points

Size Gargantuan; Strength 14; Speed 14 (32,000 MPH; air/space); Defense 6; Toughness 13
Features:
Autopilot (+4), Communications, Computer, Living Space, Navigation System, Remote Control.
Powers:
Hyperspace Drive: Movement 2 (space travel 2) - 4 points
Sensor Gear: Variable 1, Limited to senses - 6 points
Weapon Systems: Array (24 points)

• Blaster Cannons: Ranged Damage 12 - 24 points
• Pulsar Torpedoes: Ranged Burst Area Damage 8 - 1 point
• Tractor Beam: Move Object 14, Limited to moving towards or away from ship - 1 point

Character based on ideas from Voltron64.

 

[Davies]

Amor

A Hesperan Folktale:

In the dawn, those above gave many gifts to the first woman, including a man of great wisdom. But they also gave them both a sealed jar which they warned her must never be opened. But of course, she and her man did so all the same, and all the horrors that would ever afflict humanity were unleashed in that moment. They sealed it at once, but it was too late, and all that they could do was weep at their folly.

And then they heard a voice from within the jar, saying, "Let me out."

"Are you one of the horrors?" asked the first woman.

"Yes," answered the voice. "Let me out."

"Why should we do such a foolish thing, now that we know what will happen?" asked her man.

"Because I am the greatest of the horrors. Because I am the horror who horrifies the horrors. Because I will ease your suffering to prolong it. Because I will save you from the nothing you have become. I am Love. Let. Me. Out."

They opened up the jar a final time. And all that has happened, happened.

She has many names, and even more faces. In as much as she has a default appearance, it is that of a woman, pallid of skin with eyes that match her long dress which seems fashioned of the night sky; her hair is turquoise. All of that can change in the blink of an eye, and often does change many times in the course of a conversation, as it did when she first met with her primary mortal agent, the one now called Manneken. As she is without scruples, she will often employ her ability to perceive the thoughts of those with whom she would speak, and use what she sees there to assume whatever form would make them most amenable to her entreaties.

Somewhere around five thousand years ago, Amor was an Olympian who traveled to the relative backwater that was the Sol system out of curiosity about the world where her ancestors had lived. Given to arcane studies, she eventually discovered the paths of ascendance that had been followed millions of years before that. It says much about her that she managed to achieve that ascension without aid; it says much more that, having done so, she never aided others to join her, and actively worked to block their attempts when she could do so. Even when they succeeded despite her, she never revealed her existence to any of them.

(Well, almost any of them. She did work with the first oneiromancer, but has no clear memories of what prompted that, or indeed of most anything about that blurry man.)

Amor was forced to reveal herself during the Anachronic Calamity, but even then she held back from joining forces with the other Ascendants in their conflict with Abraxas. Instead, she focused her efforts on ensuring that as much of what had existed in her native reality (the World More Grim) was preserved, either in the current World in the Aftermath, or elsewhere. (Notably, she expended a lot of power to transport most of the Vima to a different world that was not merged into the current reality.) This has left her dramatically weakened; where once she was able to permanently imbue unliving material with consciousness, as she did with Manneken and one other long ago, now she struggles to do so even temporarily.

This has done nothing to make her more inclined to cooperate with the other Ascendants, and she remains outside of their hierarchy, focused entirely on her private goals of making reality more interesting ... if frequently less safe. When Mentor contacted her in hopes of receiving assistance in overcoming Abraxas, she laughed at him before suggesting that he should resolve matters with his loved ones before engaging in such schemes. This angered him, and he accused her of only caring about satisfying her momentary lusts.

"Loves," she corrected. "'Are not all loves secretly the same? A hundred flowers sprung from a single root ... the love a man feels only for one other in all the world will teach him, at length, love of all others, of all the world.' Or, as someone else put it, you ain't got nothin' if you ain't got love. Do you got that, grey pilgrim?"

They have not spoken since.

Amor -- PL 13

Abilities:
STR 8 | STA 10 | AGL 5 | DEX 5 | FGT 4 | INT 4 | AWE 5 | PRE 10

Powers:
Ascendant: Immortality 5 (one day), Only When On Home Plane; Immunity 1 (aging); Movement 1 (dimensional travel to home plane), Reaction (death); Movement 2 (dimensional travel to mystical dimensions), Standard Action - 10 points
Divine Body: Immunity 10 (life support); Insubstantial 4, Standard Action; Impervious Toughness 10 - 20 points
Divine Mind: Impervious Will 12, Limited to Mental Effects; Senses 7 (vision counters all concealment, vision counters illusions) - 13 points
High Sorcery: Array (39 points)

• Binding: Perception Range Affliction 13 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Will; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobile), Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 39 points
• Dazzle: Perception Range Burst Area Affliction 13 (Resisted and Overcome by Fortitude; Visually Impaired, Visually Disabled, Visually Unaware), Limited to One Sense - 1 point
• Hallucination: Illusion 12 (all senses), Limited to One Target, Resistible by Will - 1 point
• Infatuation: Perception Range Affliction 13 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Transformed [to be in love with the first entity seen]) - 1
• Pain: Perception Range Damage 9, Resisted by Will, Insidious, Subtle 2 - 1 point
• Portal: Accurate Extended Teleport 13 (8000 miles), Extended Only - 1 point
• Sight: Cumulative Mind Reading 12, Subtle 2 - 1 point

Many Faces: Concealment 10; Morph 4 (any form) - 40 points
Sense Immortal: Senses 2 (ranged detect immortal) - 2 points

Power Stunt:
Animation: Summon 9, Active, Broad (animated object)

Advantages:
Attractive 2, Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll, Equipment 4, Fascinate (Persuasion), Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Defense, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-all-Trades, Multilingual, Ritualist, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Home Plane: Size Gargantuan; Toughness 16; Features Communications, Concealed, Defense System, Grounds, Isolated, Library, Living Space, Power System, Personnel, Security System (DC 30) - 20 points.

Skills:
Deception 6 (+16), Expertise: Magic 6 (+16), Insight 10 (+15), Perception 9 (+14), Persuasion 6 (+16), Sleight of Hand 9 (+14), Stealth 10 (+15).

Offense:
Initiative +9
Unarmed +4 (Close Damage 8)
Binding -- (Perception Range Affliction 13, Resisted by Dodge)
Dazzle -- (Perception Range Fortitude 13, Resisted by Fortitude)
Infatuation -- (Perception Range Will 13)
Pain -- (Perception Range Damage 9, Resisted by Will)

Defense:
Dodge 12, Parry 10, Fortitude 9, Toughness 12/10, Will 13

Totals:
Abilities 102 + Powers 110 + Advantages 18 + Skills 28 + Defenses 20 = 298 points

Offensive PL: 13
Defensive PL: 12
Resistance PL: 11
Skill PL: 11

Complications:
Amusement--Motivation. Love (humanity, if not individual humans.) Secret (existence and identity.)

"Love people. Love yourself and love the world. It's only when we love things that we really, truly see them in their most lucid and perfect aspect; that we truly know them." -- Alan Moore's Writing for Comics.

 

[Davies]

And on that note, I'll be taking a break from this thread until sometime in January. All inquiries about this thread are welcome, as are suggestions for what you want to see next.

 

[Davies]

Merry Christmas to all! As a present, please enjoy a revised index.

 

[Davies]

The Red Queen

Little is definitely known about the background of the superpower mercenary known as the Red Queen, who goes by the alias Reina Rouge in her civilian life. She is the product of Projet Achille, a post-Cerebron super-soldier program devised by the French government intended to recapture the nominal success of an earlier program. Of the five successes of this program (out of a hundred candidates) she is the only one still alive and active, and has a long-term contract with certain elements of the French security apparatus to occasionally perform black ops for them and never act against their interests.

When not needed, this soldier of fortune is at liberty to seek other employment, having worked for a variety of interests, both legal and illegal. The Red Queen has accumulated considerable wealth over the last two decades, and thanks to this and her inhuman charisma, she is frequently seen traveling among the elite, especially when she scents opportunity among them. Her instincts for that verge on being a superpower themselves.

Soon after she made her debut, the Red Queen found herself opposed by la Belle and la Bête. It was the most exciting experience of her life; she would later claim that she had chosen to take the risks of volunteering for the project in order to become like these two, whom she had admired as a child. While whatever idealism had lain behind that had long since been abandoned, she still respected these two, and the fight with them was exhilarating beyond words. She lost, and was arrested, but her connections had her out before the sun rose. And best of all, she would be able to fight the two of them again, and again, and again ...

At some point, she realized that she was in love with them. Both of them, at the same time. That they never answered the blatant signals she was giving them was rather annoying, but her fascination with them never curdled into hatred, no matter how often they fought. But she felt regret that she was getting older and they never would.

Quite recently, the Red Queen found herself drawn into the events known as the Anachronic Calamity, and fighting to save reality. It was much more of a do-gooder thing than she normally did, but it was exciting. In the process, however, she learned more than she expected to know about the origins and true nature of her usual sparring partners. Learning that la Belle and la Bête were artificial intelligences imprinted on a succession of human host bodies by a nanotech virus should have horrified her.

It fascinated her, and now she has a goal beyond simply gaining wealth. She intends to become the same sort of being as the two of them, so that the three of them can go on as they have for the rest of time. The cost in lives that this will demand means absolutely nothing to her.

The Red Queen -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 3 | STA 4 | AGL 4 | DEX 5 | FGT 7 | INT 3 | AWE 5 | PRE 8

Powers:
Super-Speed: Leaping 3 (60 feet); Speed 3 (16 MPH) - 6 points
Super-Strength: Enhanced Strength 4, Limited to lifting (3 tons) - 4 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Attractive 2, Benefit 5 (cipher 2, millionaire), Connected, Contacts, Daze 2 (Deception, Intimidation), Defensive Roll, Equipment 4, Fascinate (Persuasion), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Ranged Attack 4, Redirect, Skill Mastery (Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion), Startle, Taunt.

Equipment:
Knives (Strength-based Damage 2, Improved Critical, Split Attack) and 16 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+9), Athletics 6 (+9), Close Combat: Knife 6 (+13), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+10), Deception 5 (+13), Expertise: High Society 9 (+12), Expertise: Military 6 (+9), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+11), Insight 7 (+12), Intimidation 5 (+13), Investigation 8 (+11), Perception 4 (+9), Persuasion 5 (+13), Sleight of Hand 4 (+9), Stealth 8 (+12), Technology 6 (+9), Vehicles 3 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 3)
Knives +13 (Close Damage 5, Crit 19-20)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 10, Fortitude 6, Toughness 6/4, Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 78 + Powers 10 + Advantages 23 + Skills 49 + Defenses 14 = 174 points

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

Complications:
Mercenary--Motivation. Romantic Fixation (la Belle et la Bete.) Secret Identity.

 

[Davies]

Salamon

In the World More Sorcerous, the art of imbuing the power of magic into ink, that it might be activated by reading the words written with that ink, is so ancient that only the Ascendants know when it was invented. The technique of using that ink to create body art that binds magic into flesh is comparatively more recent, having been discovered some two centuries ago in the now-fallen kingdom of Thacelion. The mage and general reprobate known as Salamon is a descendant of refugees from Thacelion who settled in Tohrukin, but his career as an adventurer has taken him far afield -- though never as far as the journey in recent months.

Stumbling onto a time portal that linked the era of the World More Sorcerous to the present day -- one of a handful created by the effects of the Anachronic Calamity -- Salamon initially found himself amazed and bewildered by the transition from one era to another. Utterly lost, he engaged in what he considered acceptable banditry in order to keep himself fed, expecting to be declared an outlaw and executed out of hand by the authorities. When he was ultimately captured after momentarily exhausting his supply of bound elementals, he was startled to be taken into custody and imprisoned, with one his jailers informing him that he would be enjoying "the hospitality of the state" for some time to come.

While not by any stretch of the imagination a lawfully-minded individual, Salamon takes hospitality extremely seriously, both the obligations of a guest and a host. The former meant that he had to be on his best behavior while in the place that his hosts called "jail", even though he found it extremely confusing. After using his gifts to prevent damage to the place by other "guests" who clearly did not honor their obligations, his hosts began asking him certain questions that he did his best to answer, which eventually led to his interview by representatives of something called called Argus. Eventually, the time came for him to leave his hosts, after giving his parole that he would avoid such behaviors in the future.

Salamon certainly intends to try to keep that promise, but recognizes that life has its own plans. His primary goal is to learn all that he can from this new world, the better to use that knowledge to his own benefit (and possibly that of others) in his own when he finds a way back. He has grasped that most things here are done through the application of natural principles, rather than supernatural ones, but also realizes that the supernatural is known and coming into greater prominence in this era, and this excites his interest greatly. In particular, he has not yet learned how to bind metal or plant elementals to himself, and would be most interested in adding that knowledge to his arsenal.

His current interest is in reports of a group of extremely powerful but free-willed elementals who have recently made themselves known, and has been encouraged by his acquaintances in Argus to learn all that he can about them ... and possibly bind them to his will, if need be.

Salamon -- PL 11

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

Powers:
Elemental Bolts: Ranged Damage 8, Split Attack, Variable (elemental) - 18 points
Gate Talisman: Accurate Extended Only Teleport 1 (2 miles); Removable (-0 points) - 3 points
Mystical Awareness: Senses 3 (acute radius mystic awareness) - 3 points
Sorcerous Tattoos: Array (56 points)

• Defensive Enchantment: Flight 3 (16 MPH); Linked Enhanced Defenses 8 (Dodge 4, Parry 4); Linked Sustained Impervious Protection 12; Subtle, Dynamic* - 2 points
• Summoned Familiar I: Summon 6, Active, Broad, Controlled, Mental Link, Dynamic - 2 points
• Summoned Familiars II: Summon 6, Active, Broad, Controlled, Mental Link, Multiple Minions (2 elementals), Dynamic - 2 points
• Summoned Familiars III: Summon 6, Active, Broad, Controlled, Mental Link, Multiple Minions 2 (4 elementals), Dynamic - 56 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Attractive, Benefit (cipher), Grabbing Finesse, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Inspire 2, Jack-of-all-trades, Power Attack, Ritualist, Startle, Trance.

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+6), Deception 3 (+9), Expertise: Magic 6 (+12), Expertise: Survival 6 (+9), Expertise: Warfare 4 (+7), Intimidation 5 (+11), Insight 5 (+9), Perception 4 (+8), Persuasion 3 (+9), Ranged Combat: Magic 8 (+10), Stealth 6 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +5
Unarmed +3 (Close Damage 0)
Elemental Bolt +10 (Ranged Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 8/4, Parry 7/3, Fortitude 5, Toughness 14/2, Will 11.

Totals:
Abilities 42 + Powers 86 + Advantages 14 + Skills 28 + Defenses 13 = 183 points

Offensive PL: 9
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 7

Complications:
Discovery--Motivation. Honorable (particularly respects hospitality.) Somewhat Literal-Minded. Unfamiliar with Technology or the Modern World.

* If Summoned Familiar I is active, becomes Flight 2, Enhanced Defenses 4 and Sustained Impervious Protection 6, Subtle; if Summoned Familiar II is active, becomes Flight 1, Enhanced Defenses 2 and Sustained Impervious Protection 3, Subtle; if Summoned Familiars III is in use, Defensive Enchantment is unavailable.


Typical Air Elemental -- PL 6/MR 6

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

Powers:
Elemental: Immunity 7 (cold, disease, heat, poison, pressure, radiation, starvation & thirst) - 7 points
Gaseous Form: Visual Concealment 4, Partial; Flight 5 (60 MPH); Permanent Insubstantial 2 - 24 points
Wind Push: Damaging Move Object 5, Accurate - 16 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Set-up

Offense:
Initiative +1
Wind Push +6 (Ranged Damage 5)

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

Totals:
Abilities 20 + Powers 47 + Advantages 4 + Defenses 19 = 90 points


Typical Earth Elemental -- PL 6/MR 6

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

Powers:
Earth Form: Burrowing 6 (4 MPH); Immunity 5 (entrapment); Impervious Protection 6; Movement 2 (Permeate), Limited to Earth; Regeneration 10, Source (Contact with natural earth) - 30 points
Elemental: Immunity 10 (life support) - 10 points
Tremorsense: Senses 6 (extended ranged penetrates concealment touch) - 6 points

Advantages:
Chokehold, Close Attack, Fast Grab, Improved Grab.

Offense:
Initiative +1
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 7)

Defense:
Dodge 3, Parry 4, Fortitude 4, Toughness 8, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 32 + Powers 46 + Advantages 4 + Defenses 8 = 90 points



Typical Fire Elemental -- PL 6/MR 6

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

Powers:
Elemental: Immunity 5 (disease, heat, poison, pressure, radiation) - 5 points
Flame Blast: Ranged Damage 8 - 16 points
Flame Form: Flight 5 (60 MPH); Immunity 5 (fire damage); Permanent Insubstantial 3, Permanent - 30 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Defensive Roll, Improved Initiative

Offense:
Initiative +5
Wind Push +4 (Ranged Damage 8)

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

Totals:
Abilities 20 + Powers 51 + Advantages 4 + Defenses 14 = 90 points


Typical Water Elemental -- PL 6/MR 6

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

Powers:
Elemental: Immunity 7 (disease, drowning, poison, pressure, radiation, starvation & thirst, vacuum) - 7 points
Tremorsense: Senses 6 (extended ranged penetrates concealment touch), Limited, Only in liquid - 3 points
Water Bolt: Ranged Damage 6, Accurate 2, Tiring - 8 points
Water Form: Visual Concealment 4, Only in liquid; Permanent Insubstantial 1; Movement 1 (slithering); Protection 6; Regeneration 10, Source (Water); Swimming 7 (60 MPH) - 29 points

Advantages:
Chokehold, Close Attack, Fast Grab, Improved Grab.

Offense:
Initiative +1
Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 5)

Defense:
Dodge 4, Parry 4, Fortitude 5, Toughness 8, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 30 + Powers 47 + Advantages 4 + Defenses 10 = 90 points

 

[Davies]

Labrys

As she watches Ligyron try to deal with the burden of the legacy of Kent Wildman, Agnes Tanaka feels only sympathy, but knows that it would do no good to tell him about how she has coped with her own burden of legacy. The cases are too different, for while her mother was also one of the first guardians of Tanelorn, Theresa Pantazis was the first of that group to fall, when her only daughter was little more than a child.

Theresa Pantazis was born in the Greece of a long-lost alternate world, where she became the vigilante known as λιποτάκτης -- the Renegade. She had no powers beyond fury, but wielded an ancient double-bitted axe that she dubbed Anísychi Psychí, "Restless Soul". While following the traces of an international conspiracy, her journey led her to first fight against, then ally with, Kent Wildman. A decade or so later, her labrys was used as a key component of the device that hurled the city that became Tanelorn away from that world as it began to die in nuclear fury.

Afterwards, Theresa married one Harry Tanaka, a long-time ally, and their daughter came along in due course. Agnes was only six -- or thereabouts, timekeeping was difficult when Tanelorn floated in the dimensional void -- when her mother was lost in a the first battle of the numerous proxy wars between Tanelorn and the Sprawl. Her labrys survived, and Harry, against his better instincts, agreed to train their daughter to fight with it when she was a little older. Possessed of the exotic ability to perceive points of weakness in her targets, Agnes undertook the training to be one of the guardians and met Ligyron and Armonia, later fighting at their side.

In the aftermath of the Anachronic Calamity and the loss of the guardian power, Agnes considered retiring from superheroics to focus on training the next generation to defend Tanelorn. But concern for Ligyron has kept her in the harness, especially after they both learned about the resemblance between Armonia and the woman called Pythia. Unlike her friend, Agnes fears that there could be some darker implications to that similarity.

In addition to finding Armonia, Agnes also seeks to learn as much as she can about the structure of the multiverse, ideally from the one called the Warpwitch. While her axe is able to hew open portals that connect the dimensions, she has only ever used this as a "bug out button" for her missions, and opening a door to the former dimensional coordinates of Tanelorn will now do no one any good. She is also curious to learn whether she (or her mother) have counterparts on this world, like many others from Tanelorn ...

Labrys -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 4 | STA 5 | AGL 5 | DEX 3 | FGT 9 | INT 3 | AWE 4 | PRE 1

Powers:
Anísychi Psychí/Restless Soul: Linked Strength-based Damage 3, Penetrating 5, Accurate; Linked Weaken Toughness 7, Affects Objects; Movement 3 (dimensional travel 3), Portal; Easily Removable (-14 points) - 21 points
Discern Weakness: Enhanced Advantage 2 (Improved Critical 2), Variable (weapon); Senses 5 (analytical vision penetrates concealment) - 8 points

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11), Athletics 6 (+10), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+11), Expertise: Civics 6 (+9), Expertise: Dimensional 6 (+9), Insight 4 (+8), Perception 6 (+10), Persuasion 6 (+7), Stealth 3 (+8), Technology 4 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +9
Unarmed +11 (Close Damage 4)
Restless Soul +11 (Close Damage 7 and Fortitude 7, Crit 18-20)

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

Totals:
Abilities 68 + Powers 29 + Advantages 9 + Skills 23 + Defense 11 = 140 points

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

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Family (father.) Legacy.

Note: Should stats for her PL 14 Guardian incarnation be required, add Enhanced Ability 5 for all abilities.

 

[Davies]

Mihael Teng

Much as with streamers in the World in the Aftermath, many young people in the Sprawl turn to what they call "simming" as a way to make money and gain fame -- typically petty amounts of both, but for those who have neither, any is better than none at all. They demonstrate their ordinary or extraordinary lives for the amusement of others, with the best results coming to those who have availed themselves of cybernetics to enhance their performance. Mihael Teng is one of these multitudes, who has boosted his reflexes to allow him to excel at urban acrobatics -- not called parkour, here, but he would recognize the similarities between what he does and that art if he were to learn of it.

And he would like to learn of it, for what little he has been able to learn about the world beyond the barricades of the Sprawl has utterly enchanted him. From various pirated feeds, Mihael has been told of a world more magical than that where he and his family live, and welcomes any intrusion from that world. There has to be more to life than living on what scraps the corps leave to the proles, and he yearns to work with those who want to remake the Sprawl in the image of that world beyond.

Alas for Mihael Teng, the outsiders in whose company he now travels do not have such noble goals. While engaged in a simming run, he stumbled across a conflict between Mercedes Blaze, her entourage, and a trio of Bloodhounds. Impulsively coming to the aid of the visitors (whom he recognized as such from the way that they spoke a language other than Patois) he turned the tide of the conflict. He subsequently volunteered his services to them as a local expert in the belief that they were outsider heroes who wanted to make life better for the people of the Sprawl.

If Mihael were to learn that Blaze is trying to exploit the Sprawl, rather than improve it, he might seek out help to oppose her. Or he might double down and come up with some excuse for why having their technological and biological distinctiveness assimilated into that of a small cabal of outsiders is really in the best interest of the Sprawl. For now, though, he is happy to be useful to his new friends while learning as much as they will tell him about the world outside, which might be more than they realize that they are telling him. Notably, Blaze does not yet grasp how much of her operations he has recorded ...

Mihael Teng -- PL 7

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

Powers:
Boosted Reflexes: Enhanced Advantages 8 (Close Attack 2, Evasion, Improved Initiative 3, Uncanny Dodge), Quirk (Close Attack is only enhanced against opponents with a lower Initiative total); Enhanced Defenses 6 (Dodge 3, Parry 3) - 12 points
I Am A Camera: Features 1 (record audio and video); Senses 2 (low-light vision, ultrahearing) - 3 points
Striking Strength: Strength-based Damage 2 - 2 points
Urban Acrobatics: Leaping 1 (30 feet); Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation-Urban); Movement 4 (Safe Fall, Sure-Footed 2, Wall-Crawling 1), Limited to Urban Environments; Speed 1 (4 MPH) - 8 points.

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Critical (unarmed) 2, Improved Initiative 3, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Prone Fighting, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+11), Athletics 8 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 5 (+8), Expertise: Performance 8 (+11), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+7), Perception 6 (+8), Ranged Combat: Throwing 4 (+6), Stealth 6 (+10), Technology 6 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +16
Unarmed +10/+8 (Close Damage 3)

Defense:
Dodge 10/7, Parry 8/5, Fortitude 4, Toughness 4/2, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 36 + Powers 25 + Advantages 11 + Skills 28 + Defenses 11 = 111 points

Offensive PL: 7
Defensive PL: 7
Resistance PL: 5
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Maintenance. Naïve, While Imagining Himself Canny. Secret.

 

[Davies]

Olympians

Sometime towards the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, a group of Titans visited the Sol system and Earth -- likely not for the first time -- and discovered an intriguing species there. Even then, occasional examples of homo sapiens demonstrated abilities outside the norm for their species. As would much later be said, there were giants in those days. The Titans perceived them as potentially useful and took some of them with them when they left, creating numerous lines of cloned soldiers -- later dubbed Spartoi -- and more individually bred officers -- the Olympians.

Eventually, the Olympians overthrew the Titans, ruling much of the stellar territory now known as the Technate and the Imperium from a capitol that orbited a star roughly 800 parsecs from the Sol system. (Neither the planet nor the star exist any longer; the latter became the supernova identified as SN 393 thanks to the efforts of the Destrons.) In their turn, the Olympians fell from power around 2500 BCE and were long believed to be extinct save for a few isolated examples.

This was recently proven untrue, with a group of forty-two survivors emerging from suspended animation in a chamber buried deep within the Jovian moon Ganymede. Led by Metis, they have begun to construct a settlement on the surface of the moon, resuming the cultivation of ambrosia in environmental habitats, and have engaged in diplomacy with certain residents within the planet it orbits, as well as other spacefarers within the Solar system. They have also fought off an attack by a small party of Martian raiders, which they are inexperienced enough to view as more of an assault than it actually was.

Most of the Olympian survivors were ordinary citizens of Ganymede, not possessing any unusual powers or training. Metis has attempted to teach some of them psychic techniques without apparent success. As yet, none of them have left their sanctuary to visit other planets of the Sol system, but many are curious to see what has become of their kingdom in the centuries since its fall. Unfortunately, those who are most curious take it for granted that they will be welcomed as long-absent deities and worshipped.

The reality is likely to be rather different from their expectations ...

Olympian -- PL 7/MR 7

Abilities:
STR 5 | STA 6 | AGL 4 | DEX 3 | FGT 8 | INT 1 | AWE 2 | PRE 3

Powers:
Olympian: Immunity 4 (aging, cold, disease, poison); Impervious Toughness 6; Regeneration 5 - 15 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Fearless, Improved Grab, Improved Hold.

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+8), Close Combat: Grab 1 (+9), Intimidation 4 (+7), Perception 4 (+6), Technology 4 (+5), Vehicles 4 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +4
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 5)
Grab +9 (Close Grab 5)

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

Totals:
Abilities 64 + Powers 15 + Advantages 4 + Skills 10 + Defenses 7 = 100 points

Offensive PL: 7
Defensive PL: 7
Resistance PL: 7
Skill PL: 3

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Power Loss (Olympian, must consume Ambrosia weekly.) Others as Needed.

Variations:
Archer: Reduce FGT to 6; replace Improved Grab and Improved Hold with Equipment 2 (powerbow [Ranged Damage 5]) and add Improved Aim and Tracking; replace Close Combat: Grab with Ranged Combat: Bow 5 (+8) and reduce Vehicles to 2 (+5); increase Dodge to 8.
Boxer: Replace Improved Grab and Improved Hold with Defensive Attack and Power Attack, replace Close Combat: Grab with Close Combat: Unarmed.
Crafter: Drop All-out Attack, Improved Grab and Improved Hold, add Skill Mastery (Technology); drop Close Combat: Grab, increase Technology to 9 (+10).
Hoplite: Reduce FGT to 5; add Body Armor: Impervious Protection 2, Removable; replace Improved Grab and Improved Hold with Equipment (Spear [Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical]) and Power Attack, add Improved Defense; replace Close Combat: Grab with Close Combat: Spear; improve Parry to +6.
Runner: Reduce STR to 4; add Speed 4 (30 MPH); drop Improved Grab, Improved Hold; replace Close Combat: Grab with Athletics 4.

Note: Older and more experienced Olympians will have, naturally, higher skills and defenses; their Impervious Toughness is always equal to their Toughness. If any of them have psychic powers, they are keeping them a secret from Metis ...

 

[Davies]

April Danza

Until she was ten years old, April Danza lived a comfortable and happy life with her parents on their estate in rural Connecticut. They were much less wealthy than they had been even two generations before that, but that was of little concern to their only daughter. When she demonstrated that she had some of the old talents, there was idle talk of sending her to be educated at the scholomance in the Berkshires, or its rival in the Miskatonic Valley, but her mother and father decided to postpone such decisions until after they came back from their trip to Athens, where they planned to discuss business with a distant relative.

They never came back, caught up in the first clash between that relative, Simon Munroe, and the novice superhero Nike. It would later be clear that Nike had tried to save them but failed. Even if she had known that at the time, though, it seems likely that April would have lacked the perspective to appreciate the distinction. Her parents were dead, a superhero was involved, therefore it was her fault, and therefore April would have vengeance on her in this world and all the worlds to come.

After three years of study and preparation, the young witch managed to make contact with certain old family associates who offered her a weapon for her war: an ankh-shaped talisman that granted her command over a giant of a man, eventually dubbed the Maniac. Even then, April recognized that she was being used by these inhuman beings for their purposes, which likely had nothing to do with her grief and rage. Nevertheless, she took what she was offered and traveled across the Atlantic to Greece, and prepared an ambush for her enemy.

Despite the might of the Maniac, the skill with which Nike fought allowed her to survive and triumph. During their third conflict, on the roof of the Piraeus Towers in Athens, April misjudged her footing and slipped off the side of the building. Swifter than an eagle, Nike flew down to stop her fall, despite knowing that the fight would be over if she just did nothing. That act of clemency shook April, destroying her certainty that she was doing the right thing. So did her realization that she was treating a thinking being, the Maniac, as a slave who had no choice but to obey her commands. The sort of person who did that was not the sort of person that her parents had raised her to be.

So she made peace with Nike and tried to give the Maniac his freedom. The latter part of that did not work out as well as she hoped, and so April found the new goal of finding a way to end his compulsion to obey whoever held the talisman. To do that, she knew that she would need to study. While the library at New Worminghall would have been ideal for her purposes, she decided that the Futurian Academy was a safer place to pursue these goals, and became a student there in 2018, employing her own talents and heirloom magic ring to sometimes assist the other would-be heroes there.

However, April has never really felt all that inclined towards heroics herself; there is only one person she cares about helping without any reward. After concluding that she had gotten as far with her attempts as the resources at the Academy will permit, and becoming concerned about the recent changes there, she has dropped out of the school. When asked where she was planning to go, she speculated that there might be some useful secrets to be found in Turkey. That may or may not have been disinformation. Regardless, she has left Cardiff, and the journey of this sorcerer continues.

April Danza -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Defensive Talismans: Sustained Impervious Protection 8, Fades; Removable (-1 point) - 7 points
Mystical Awareness: Senses 4 (acute radius mystical awareness, danger sense) - 4 points
Prodigy: Quickness 3, Limited to designing magical rituals - 1 point
Ring of Passage: Concealment 8 (all sense groups except tactile and mental), Passive; Linked Insubstantial 3; Linked Movement 3 (safe fall, wall-crawling, water-walking); Linked Speed 6 (120 MPH); Removable (-7 points) - 28 points
Shielded Mind: Impervious Will 8, Limited to mental effects - 4 points

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (millionaire), Connected, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Fascination (Persuasion), Improved Defense, Ritualist, Seize Initiative, Taunt.

Skills:
Deception 6 (+13), Expertise: Magic 5 (+12), Insight 6 (+10), Investigation 6 (+9), Perception 5 (+9), Persuasion 4 (+11), Stealth 6 (+8).

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

Defense:
Dodge 5, Parry 3, Fortitude 3, Toughness 11/9/3/1, Will 8.

Totals:
Abilities 38 + Powers 44 + Advantages 11 + Skills 19 + Defenses 11 = 123 points.

Offensive PL: 0*
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 8

Complications:
Responsibility (Sort of)--Motivation. Secret Identity. Vanity.