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

[Davies]

The Etherian

The Etherian

Lewis Hodgson

One of the few superpower foes encountered by Hadron during his brief career as a hero, the Etherian first appeared in College Station, Texas in February, 2000. At the time, it seemed that one of the dormitories on campus was being afflicted by a ghost. While Philip Baldwin was aware of the existence of hauntings, his research led him to the conclusion that there was no cause for the presence of such a phenomenon at this location. His suspicions were confirmed when he investigated personally and found himself in physical conflict with the supposed ghost.

After Hadron blinded the Etherian with his radiation powers, the creature fled back to its point of origin, which turned out to be a post-graduate student named Lewis Hodgson, who had undergone a psychic awakening that allowed him to project a fragment of his psyche as the Etherian. Hadron turned Hodgson over to campus security and they in turn handed him off to the police, and Baldwin imagined that this would be the end of it. He had no idea how far down the rabbit hole he had just opened up would go.

The issue of remote viewing espionage had been a major security concern since the first age of superheroics. Efforts had been made to devise methods of preventing it, with some success. When Hodgson was tried for his voyeurism, his attorneys arranged a plea bargain where he would receive a reduced sentence in exchange for his participation in studies by the Morrison Institute to determine the limits of his abilities, and how best to prevent their use. It was discovered that while it was occasionally possible to prevent him from projecting his "ghost duplicate", no known method was able to stop him from using the senses of the creature as his own once he had done so. In other words, he was a walking, talking security risk.

Out of the past twenty-two years, Lewis Hodgson has spent a grand total of two years, non-concurrent, outside of one prison cell or another. He is currently two years into his second ten year stretch in the Big Rock. The irony of his situation is that the risk that he actually poses to national security is non-existent, as he has no interest in using his powers for anything other than voyeurism ... but he is completely devoted to that goal, and cannot be dissuaded from doing so except by direct compulsion. Hodgson has no method of self-defense other than the protection of his duplicate, when available, though he has also survived serious injury through ridiculous dumb luck in the past.

The Etherian -- PL 8

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

Powers:
"Ghost": Concealment 10 (all senses); Flight 5 (60 MPH); Immunity 30 (Fortitude); Permanent Insubstantial 4; Protection 8 - 88 points
Link to Master: Senses 1 (communication link) - 1 point
Ghost Touch: Affects Corporeal Damage 8 - 16 points
Ghost Vision: Senses 2 (vision counters invisibility) - 2 points

Advantages:
Improved Initiative, Move-by Action.

Skills:
Close Combat: Ghost Touch 4 (+8), Investigation 6 (+7), Perception 4 (+6)

Offense:
Initiative +2
Ghost Touch +8 (Close Damage 8)

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

Totals:
Abilities 18 + Powers 107 + Advantages 2 + Skills 7 + Defenses 16 = 150 points

Offensive PL: 8
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 2

Complications:
Obedience. Obviously Unnatural (when visible.)


Lewis Hodgson -- PL 6

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

Powers:
Spirit Projection: Linked Remote Sensing 6 (all senses, 60 miles), Medium (the Etherian), No Conduit, Innate; Linked Senses 2 (vision counters invisibility); Summon 10, Heroic, Mental Link - 72 points

Advantages:
Defensive Roll 2, Eidetic Memory, Hide in Plain Sight, Taunt.

Skills:
Deception 6 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 5 (+5), Insight 4 (+6), Perception 6 (+8), Stealth 5 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +2
Unarmed +2 (Close Damage 0)

Defense:
Dodge 5, Parry 5, Fortitude 3, Toughness 7/2, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 18 + Powers 72 + Advantages 5 + Skills 13 + Defenses 10 = 118 points

Offensive PL: 1
Defensive PL: 6
Resistance PL: 4
Skill PL: 3

Complications:
Obsession--Motivation. Cowardice.

 

[Davies]

I'm sad to say that owing to some unforeseen and frustrating complications, I'm not going to be able to make any of the posts I was planning to make for about a week.

 

[Davies]

Arthur, Dux Bellorum

Were you expecting Clive Owen?

Even in his youth, when he believed that he was the illegitimate son of his foster father being kept close, he had dreams of becoming something greater, of somehow winning his way to a throne through the strength of his sword arm. When Hector and Morgan finally told him the truth of his lineage, with Morgan also revealing some of what that heritage would mean, those ambitions became greater yet. (There was no sword in a stone, no tournament to determine who had the right to draw it forth. Those were all imagined by storytellers of a later age who were, ultimately, telling stories about their own age, not his.)

Arthur (only rarely did he go by the Romanized Artorius) fought for the sake of those dreams and ambitions, not for any enlightened or romantic ideals. He intended to bring all of Britain under his rule, and rule well, but the notion of might in the service of right would have at best made him laugh. At his best, he sincerely believed in the ideals, Roman and Christian, that he had been passed down from his forefathers. At his worst, he believed in nothing but his own power. And there were far more days when he was at his worst than at his best.

Perhaps his greatest personal failing was how he reacted to the news that his youngest daughter was, remarkably, growing into a remarkable warrior. While he never seriously considered the notion that she might be a worthy successor, he was nonetheless interested enough to ride out to the estate where she lived under the guardianship of his foster brother and observe her training. Yet as soon as he laid eyes on her, something about Johanna aroused feelings of mortal terror unlike anything he had known. More than any foe, more than any battle, the sight of her filled him with an incomprehensible loathing, and he avoided her afterwards.

His sister offered him an explanation. He had been gifted with the power to draw the enchantments of others into himself, and strengthen himself thereby -- but this girlchild possessed an enchantment deeper and more subtle than he could affect, making her a potential danger that he might never be able to overcome. It sounded plausible to his ears, but he still wished that Morgan was available to confirm or deny it, for he could not help but wonder if her explanation was meant to strengthen the position of her son in his retinue. Well, Medraut had already earned his position by his own deeds, so it mattered not at all.

When it all fell apart, it happened only by accident. He was leading raids on the continent when news came that Medraut had declared himself king. There were claims that he had received a false report that Arthur had fallen in one of those stupid little battles. Once again, it mattered not at all -- the boy he had hoped might be his heir had grown up to be just as ambitious as he himself, and there was only one way that it could be answered. And so, at the great strife at Camlann, Arthur and Medraut fell, and there was great mortality in Britain and Ireland. And that was the end of the story. Claims that he would one day come again were just stories that people told because they needed hope, nothing more.

Or perhaps not, for another has lately appeared with similar gifts and a similar reaction to the sight of Prydwen, as Johanna now calls herself.

Arthur -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 7/3 | STA 6/3 | AGL 4/1 | DEX 2 | FGT 9/5 | INT 2 | AWE 2 | PRE 5

Powers:
Magic Absorption: Array (45 points)

• Aura: Enhanced Advantages 7 (Defensive Attack, Evasion, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge); Enhanced Agility 3; Enhanced Fighting 4; Enhanced Stamina 3; Enhanced Strength 4; Impervious Will 7 - 1 point
• Void: Burst Area Nullify Magic 9, Broad, Close Range, Concentration, Simultaneous - 45 points

Magic Resistance: Immunity 10 (magic effects), Reflect - 20 points
Sword of Promised Victory: Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical, Affects Insubstantial 2; Easily Removable (-2 points) - 4 points

Advantages:
Benefit (dux), Defensive Attack, Equipment, Evasion,, Fearless, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Leadership, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Armor (Protection 3).

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+12/+8), Close Combat: Sword 3 (+12/+8), Expertise: Warfare 8 (+10), Insight 6 (+8), Intimidation 6 (+11), Perception 7 (+9), Persuasion 3 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +8/+5
Unarmed +9/+5 (Close Damage 7/3)
Sword +12/+8 (Close Damage 10/6)

Defense:
Dodge 10/6, Parry 12/8, Fortitude 8/5, Toughness 9/6, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 46 + Powers 70 + Advantages 4 + Skills 19 + Defenses 15 = 184 points

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

Complications:
Ambition--Motivation. Fame. Fear/Hatred (Johanna.)

Note: These stats represent Arthur during the height of his powers, around the time of Badon. By Camlann, when he was in his fifties, subtract two ranks from each physical attribute and FGT, but increase INT and AWE by one rank each.

 

[Davies]

Beowulf

While the business with first Grendel and then what he took for his mother was probably his greatest adventure, it was hardly his only one. By the time that Hrothgar began having his troubles, he had already gained something of a reputation for killing monsters. Most of them were just animals unfamiliar to those who witnessed them, but removing the threat eased the worries of those folk. Playing up the threat that the creatures had posed, after they were gone, did no real harm, and spread his fame, so that others would know that they could turn to him for help. And that was a good thing, right?

And Grendel was every bit as terrifying as the stories said, and his mother even worse, and he never spoke of the other strangeness he witnessed in their lair beneath the lake. Those eggs, and the spider-like things inside of them, and the way that their home looked less carved from stone than forged from ... something. Not metal, not as he knew it. Beowulf crushed all the eggs, he hoped, and left that part out of the tale. The notion that there might be more of that breed would ease no one, and there was nothing heroic about killing creatures that had yet to be born.

There were other battles against men and "monsters", and some ten years after the business at Heorot, he found himself drawn into a war greater than anything he had ever imagined, alongside men and women from places he knew nothing about, among them the future, of all things. In the process, he learned what that future held for him. While they tried to make him forget that, and everything else that he had seen, his naturally hard head (and a bit of the annoyance that their presumption made him feel) kept their tricks from working on him.

So he was supposed to die a king, fighting a dragon, eh? Well, there were worse fates. So he accepted what came his way, took the kingship when it lay open to him, and welcomed Wiglaf in the knowledge that his nephew would follow after him. Then the dragon came, and he fought it alone save for Wiglaf, and was amazed to find himself still standing at the end. Well, perhaps then the fates could be challenged after all, he thought, just before he felt the sword in his back. Wiglaf was tired of waiting to be king, it seemed.

Dying, he learned one last lesson -- legends leave out important details. But that sword cut both ways, for he lasted long enough to hear his "heir" hypocritically lambasting the Geats for their cowardice ... long enough to let out a groan to let them know he still lived ... and long enough to fix Wiglaf with one last glare. For the rest of his life, Wiglaf lived in mortal terror that somehow, Beowulf would fight his way back from the grave, and so he ruled their people with that caution in mind. So passed the king most gracious and fair-minded, kindest to his people and keenest to win fame.

Beowulf -- PL 10

Abilities:
STR 6 | STA 5 | AGL 2 | DEX 3 | FGT 9 | INT 1 | AWE 2 | PRE 3

Powers:
Fierce Will: Sustained Immunity 20 (mental effects), Limited to half effect - 10 points
Intimidating Presence: Perception Range Affliction 7 (Resisted by Will; Impaired, Disabled), Concentration, Limited Degree - 21 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Assessment, Chokehold, Connected, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Equipment 6, Fast Grab, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Prone Fighting, Seize Initiative, Takedown, Tracking, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Sword (Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical), armor (protection 3), and a ship.

Skills:
Athletics 7 (+13), Close Combat: Sword 2 (+11), Expertise: Mariner 6 (+7), Expertise: Warfare 8 (+9), Insight 8 (+10), Intimidation 9 (+12), Perception 8 (+10), Persuasion 6 (+9), Stealth 6 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 6)
Sword +11 (Close Damage 9)

Defense:
Dodge 10, Parry 12, Fortitude 6, Toughness 8/5, Will 6.

Totals:
Abilities 62 + Powers 31 + Advantages 25 + Skills 30 + Defenses 16 = 163 points

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

Complications:
Fame--Motivation. Reputation (monster hunter.) Responsibility (kin and kind.)

Note: Beowulf's tendency to break his sword is not a complication, but a consequence of running into a lot of monsters who have Improved Smash and Weapon Break.

 

[Voltron64]

So he was supposed to die a king, fighting a dragon, eh? Well, there were worse fates. So he accepted what came his way, took the kingship when it lay open to him, and welcomed Wiglaf in the knowledge that his nephew would follow after him. Then the dragon came, and he fought it alone save for Wiglaf, and was amazed to find himself still standing at the end. Well, perhaps then the fates could be challenged after all, he thought, just before he felt the sword in his back. Wiglaf was tired of waiting to be king, it seemed.

And far too impatient for his own good. All things considered, all the damage/blows/wounds/etc. his uncle Beowulf took throughout his lifetime would have finally caught up to him in a few short years anyway.

 

[Davies]

And far too impatient for his own good. All things considered, all the damage/blows/wounds/etc. his uncle Beowulf took throughout his lifetime would have finally caught up to him in a few short years anyway.

Which was part of the reason Beowulf didn't take that last opportunity to accuse him, just glaring. (The other part was that he knew that telling the Geats the truth about their new king wouldn't have eased any of the fear they were feeling.)

 

[Davies]

Princess Kaguya

Much of the story, notably the end, has already been told. And yet there is still more to tell. There always is.

Gaigoyan -- to use the Albadine version of her name, which her adoptive parents thought similar to the Japanese word for 'shining', Kaguya -- came to Earth almost by accident. Born just as the various Albadine dominions were disintegrating, she was charged by the ruler who had ordered her quickening (but whom she never once thought of as a mother) to seek out all the remaining Albadine colonies throughout charted space and bid them travel to her home world to build the basis of an empire. She found many, and died a bit inside each time the people she had found refused that bidding, for she had other orders for what to do if that happened. Throughout her life, she dreamed of drowning in the green blood she had shed.

There were old accounts of the people visiting the Sol system, and she followed those accounts there. After conducting an orbital survey that revealed no traces of her people on the third planet, she was preparing to depart when her vessel came under attack by robotic vessels from the first planet. She barely survived that clash and the shipwreck that followed it, which brought her down in the land that she would come to know as Nihon. Part of the reason that her eventual "rescue" took so long was her reluctance to call for help, out of fear that her attackers might come again.

Another part, of course, was that she was happy there, for perhaps the first time in her life. She knew that it could never last, that she could never truly be one of these people. Yet she loved them all the same. Not romantically; she had been designed not to know such desires, since the geneforging that had created her people was still unstable, then, and the children born to them were as often Gargun as Albadine, which would never do for the children of the Empress. So her refusal of the suits paid to her by many of the noteworthy of Nihon was sincere, if not perhaps wholly honest.

In time, she took the people she loved most away from that world, and led them to a new one, which she hoped would be far enough away from the madness that the Empress was unleashing. Even after she left Yusei, she never returned to her homeworld, but continued to explore this region of the galaxy. She visited Hasham, and played a role in the formation of the mystic order, but ultimately departed when she could not accept the dualism that they insisted upon. Gaigoyan the Green knew better than most that great good and great evil could exist in the same soul.

When the Albadine came at last to the Imperium, she was waiting, and was embraced by them as a pioneer, honored and kept safe. Some few centuries later, she would become drawn into the Anachronic Calamity, which astounded her. Surely, an ancient wreck such as herself could be of no help in saving reality? Besides, if it was the fate of reality to end in this way, then should this not be accepted without fear or -- and then they told her of how the one called Billie Zane had obtained the Matter Gem.

"If you had claimed it in battle, I would weep but do nothing," she said to the Mind Eater when they met. "If you had stolen it in stealth, I would weep but do nothing. But you tricked my children to think that you were I ... and I shall not weep. Even if the Source forgives you, I will not. Greetings. My parents named me Kaguya-hime. Prepare to die." And with the mightiest blow imaginable, she cut the Matter Gem and the hand that was holding it from her foe. She might have done more, but reclaiming the treasure took priority.

The ending of her tale has already been told. Or has it? For although there was no great angel waiting in the gloom for her soul, her end did not go as unwitnessed as some accounts have claimed. And perhaps, one whose life was given to love will yet be called upon in dark hours to come.

Princess Kaguya -- PL 12

Abilities:
STR 11/6 | STA 11/6 | AGL 6 | DEX 4 | FGT 8 | INT 6 | AWE 5 | PRE 5

Powers:
Basic Telepathy: Mental Communication 2 (1 mile)- 8 points
Bonded Starsword: Damage 6, Penetrating 6, Accurate; Easily Removable (-4 points) - 9 points
Longevity: Immunity 1 (aging); Immunity 2 (disease, poison), Limited to Half-effect - 2 points
Mental Powers: Array (31 points)

• Hypnosis: Perception Range Cumulative Affliction 10 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Compelled, Controlled), Insidious, Vision Dependent - 30 points
• Physical Enhancement: Enhanced Stamina 5; Enhanced Strength 5; Sustained Impervious Toughness 6; Sustained Regeneration 5 - 1 point
• Psychic Probe: Cumulative Mind-Reading 10, Subtle - 1 point
• Psychokinesis: Perception Range Move Object 10 (200 tons), Subtle - 1 point

Shielded Mind: Impervious Will 10, Limited to Mental effects - 5 points

Rarely Used Power Stunt:
Focused Physical Enhancement: Enhanced Damage 15, Penetrating 15.

Advantages:
Assessment, Attractive, Defensive Attack, Evasion, Fearless, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Leadership, Power Attack, Teamwork, Trance, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Close Combat: Sword 4 (+12), Deception 6 (+11), Expertise: Galactic 8 (+14), Insight 10 (+15), Intimidation 8 (+13), Perception 8 (+13), Persuasion 8 (+13), Treatment 6 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +10
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 11/6)
Starsword +14 (Close Damage 6)
Hypnosis -- (Perception Range Will 10)

Defense:
Dodge 10, Parry 12, Fortitude 11/6, Toughness 11/6, Will 13.

Totals:
Abilities 92 + Powers 58 + Advantages 12 + Skills 29 + Defenses 16 = 207 points

Offensive PL: 10
Defensive PL: 12
Resistance PL: 12
Skill PL: 10

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Falls In (Non-romantic) Love Easily.

"Where is it that we were together? Who were you that I lived with? The brother. The friend. Darkness, light. Strife and love. Are they the workings of one mind? The features of the same face? Oh, my soul. Let me be in you now. Look out through my eyes. Look out at the things you made. All things shining."

 

[Davies]

Johnny Wasted

Before 1977, if anyone had told twenty-one year old John Schneider that he would one day be a hero ... he would have been thrilled. However, his idea of a hero was largely shaped by his favorite movie, Easy Rider, which he had first snuck into a theatre to see when he was fifteen, and then actually paid to watch whenever he had the opportunity. Idolizing its lead character, "Captain Courage", he hoped to one day ride across America on a motorcycle. (That the journey of Captain Courage apparently ends in his violent death did not really register to him.)

Unfortunately (for him at least) that dream was still far out of reach for him, with the problem of obtaining a motorcycle and holding onto it yet unsolved, when his life went off on a completely different path. Struck down by a large dose of the mutating fallout from the final battle of Alphatron and El Imán, he lay as one dead for four days, with the coroner concluding that the mutations he had suffered had been too severe for him to survive. As he was being buried in the potter's field, however, he regained consciousness within the coffin and blasted his way out of it with the first use of the energy beam he could now project from his left eye.

In addition to that strange talent, which he had to keep his eye closed to avoid using, he found himself largely without the various weaknesses of the flesh. That had its upsides and a few downsides. The biggest downside, from his own perspective, was that he was no longer affected, at all, by recreational drugs. Without that, what was the point of his grand dreams of following in the path of Captain Courage? (He also soon found out that while he was hard to injure, he could only heal from those injuries he did suffer by eating raw meat. Fortunately, it could be any sort of raw meat, instead of ... well, you know, people.)

This might have been the birth of a supervillain, not a hero, if not for two factors. The first was that Johnny Wasted, as he soon started calling himself, lacked both the imagination and the initiative to engage in serious crimes now that his ability to enjoy the proceeds of them was greatly diminished. (He often commented that he was still kind of "brain dead", and his eventual allies often noted that he suffered from frequent memory lapses.) The other factor was the friendship he struck up with Red Rachel, a partially robotic entity who appeared in Denver after the explosion. They bonded over their mutual inhumanity, but Rachel strove to act as a protector and dragged Johnny into that scene as well.

The two of them helped to form the Mile High Marauders in 1983, and remained with the team right up until it broke up in 1991. While their personal relationship went through many ups and downs during that time, they chose to remain together as they rode away from Denver in a motorcycle and sidecar. Rumors claimed that they had been captured by the Pythons soon after their departure, but if so it seems likely that they escaped captivity some time after the fall of Delphi and went into hiding.

They were next seen in New Orleans during the attack by Cerebron, which they helped to resist. Unfortunately, Rachel suffered damage that left her inoperative, and while Johnny insisted that she would be fine, he was apparently unable to find anyone who could repair her systems. When Gideon Gold sought him out in 2005, Johnny was living outside Krotz Springs, Louisiana, not far from where the climax of Easy Rider was shot, and tending to what he referred to as her grave. He agreed to help Gold to establish a new Grim Brigade, but stated that he would not stick around for too long.

That truer than he knew, for he was, like the rest of his team, killed during the coup attempt less than a year later. After an extended period to make sure that he would not be coming back a third time, he was buried beside the grave in Krotz Springs. A small memorial was eventually established, though it has frequently been defaced by local youth who neither know nor care about those who lie here. For reasons she declines to explain, Liz Leeds of Heroic Enterprises spends a day each month cleaning the site up.

Johnny Wasted -- PL 9

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

Powers:
Eyebeam: Ranged Attack 9, Accurate 4 - 22 points
Walking Corpse: Immunity 50 (Fortitude effects, mental effects); Impervious Protection 8; Regeneration 2, Source (raw meat) - 67 points

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Takedown Attack.

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+11), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+10), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+7), Intimidation 6 (+9), Stealth 6 (+8), Vehicles 6 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +2
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 5)
Eyebeam +9 (Ranged Damage 9)

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

Totals:
Abilities 28 + Powers 89 + Advantages 5 + Skills 18 + Defenses 14 = 154 points

Offensive PL: 9
Defensive PL: 9
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 5

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Brain Dead (difficulty retaining "new" information.) Hideous Appearance. Poor Depth Perception.

 

[Voltron64]

This might have been the birth of a supervillain, not a hero, if not for two factors. The first was that Johnny Wasted, as he soon started calling himself, lacked both the imagination and the initiative to engage in serious crimes now that his ability to enjoy the proceeds of them was greatly diminished. (He often commented that he was still kind of "brain dead", and his eventual allies often noted that he suffered from frequent memory lapses.) The other factor was the friendship he struck up with Red Rachel, a partially robotic entity who appeared in Denver after the explosion. They bonded over their mutual inhumanity, but Rachel strove to act as a protector and dragged Johnny into that scene as well.

Also the third factor of him being of a very non-malicious nature.

 

[Davies]

Also the third factor of him being of a very non-malicious nature.

Good point. The final version will note that he was never a violent criminal to begin with.