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[Mutants & Masterminds] A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
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<blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8111289" data-attributes="member: 30538"><p><span style="font-size: 26px"><span style="color: red">Hannes Zaharoff</span></span></p><p><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-m3cpq9Q/0/c79a8040/S/070218-S.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The man who would rename himself Hannes Zaharoff was born in Gndingen (now Gydnia) in 1908. In his early twenties, after a brilliant career at the University of Warsaw, he was hired by a Polish government ministry, and given a very sensitive position. With characteristic amorality, he proceeded to betray his employers and nation by selling intelligence to the Third Reich, though his sole interest was in their money, rather than their political aims. Having reached a level of comfort, he began to engage in some private genealogical research.</p><p></p><p>He was fascinated to discover that his mother, a Greek woman supposedly born in Thebes, had apparently been born to Aristides Damala and his mistress, then given by Damala's wife, Sarah Bernhardt, to her friend, the notorious 'merchant of death' Basil Zaharoff, who had arranged for her adoption. At least, that was the official story; he developed a very different theory as to what had happened. It seemed much more likely -- to him -- that the child had actually been the child of a heretofore unknown affair between Bernhardt and Zaharoff, which made himself the grandson of a man who shaped the fate of nations. (That this would have meant that his grandfather had dumped his mother somewhere out of the way was not something that he was inclined to view as a character flaw.)</p><p></p><p>Thus, when the Germans and Soviets invaded Poland and he fled the country, he adopted the name Zaharoff as his own, taking up residence in Turkey and selling intelligence to both sides of World War II. In the aftermath of the conflict, predicting the start of the Cold War, he began to organize a new organization which he intended to serve as a third force between the two nascent super-powers, with agents in the ranks of both. The primary goal of this organization was to reap as much money as possible from both sides, with no particular political agenda beyond that. </p><p></p><p>Despite his seeming prescience regarding both the Second World War and the Cold War that followed it, Zaharoff was caught somewhat off-guard by the rise of the superhero, and these bewildering figures did a great deal of damage to his organization's operations in the United States, just as one particularly intrepid agent of British intelligence was doing the same in Europe. Clearly, he would need to improve his game a bit, so he began to sponsor research into mad science for the first time, with an eye towards developing a way to ensure that he, personally, would never be captured or killed by his enemies.</p><p></p><p>This resulted in the discovery of a method to alter someone's appearance to match his own while simultaneously using a combination of drugs and hypnosis to convince that person that they were Hannes Zaharoff, making them into the perfect decoy. The decoys would be kept unconscious until they were needed, and be briefed on awakening about recent events. They would frequently suffer 'memory lapses' when asked about things not covered by the briefing, but Zaharoff's authority remained unquestioned by his agents.</p><p></p><p>At some point in this process, the original Zaharoff died of apparently natural causes. The people who ran the duplicate program released a decoy to take his place, and the whole thing continued. It continued after he was defeated, repeatedly, by the aforementioned British agent, with the replacements regarding all those events as having happened to a decoy, rather than their own, authentic self. Thus, 'Zaharoff', while diminished in wealth and power, actually outlived his famous enemy, who died a miserable, lonely death in the early 1970s.</p><p></p><p>It's not clear whether Pythia knew that the man she approached in 1977 about joining forces was not the original Hannes Zaharoff, but it is not clear whether she would have been concerned about that, either. Regardless, they agreed to unite, with Zaharoff becoming the Insurgency's Director of Espionage. His goal, of course, was unchanged -- to gain as much money for himself as could be imagined, and then perhaps more. He was therefore content to remain in his chosen position, rather than strive to replace Pythia after she apparently began to falter. Or perhaps he viewed this faltering as the falsehood that it may have been.</p><p></p><p>Association with the mad scientists of the Insurgency also allowed a number of improvements to the 'doubling' process, which now involved digital recordings of 'Zaharoff's' brain patterns and the decoys being preserved in so-called 'Russian sleep'. They still suffered memory lapses, however, since the process remained not quite perfected.</p><p></p><p>All of the scientists involved in the decoy process were present in Delphi when the final assault began, and all were accounted for, in one way or another. The story above was revealed in post-operational interviews with the lone survivor of the original group, who was given a death sentence for multiple counts of kidnapping -- the decoys having been largely created from the victims of same. It is believed that the process was completely shut down, and all the extant decoys euthanized.</p><p></p><p>But who knows whether they really got them all?</p><p></p><p><strong>Hannes Zaharoff -- PL 6</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Abilities:</strong></p><p><strong>STR</strong> 2 | <strong>STA</strong> 1 | <strong>AGL</strong> 3 | <strong>DEX</strong> 2 | <strong>FGT</strong> 5 | <strong>INT</strong> 3 | <strong>AWE</strong> 2 | <strong>PRE</strong> 4</p><p></p><p><strong>Powers:</strong></p><p><strong><em>Endless Doubles:</em></strong> Immortality 5 - 10 points</p><p></p><p><strong>Advantages:</strong></p><p>Connected, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Equipment 4, Evasion, Favored Environment (planned situation), Improved Disarm, Language 4 (English, German, Greek, Italian, others, [Polish becomes native]) Ranged Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Well-informed.</p><p></p><p><em>Equipment:</em></p><p>Light Pistol (Ranged Damage 3) and 14 points of equipment as needed.</p><p></p><p><strong>Skills:</strong></p><p>Deception 4 (+8), Expertise: Business 4 (+7), Expertise: Current Events 6 (+9), Expertise: Conspiracy 7 (+10), Expertise: Politics 6 (+9), Insight 6 (+8), Intimidation 4 (+8), Investigation 5 (+8), Perception 4 (+6), Persuasion 7 (+11), Ranged Combat: Guns 4 (+6) Stealth 2 (+5), Technology 2 (+5), Vehicles 3 (+5), 64 points</p><p></p><p><strong>Offense:</strong></p><p>Initiative +3</p><p>Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 1)</p><p>Light Pistol +7 (Ranged Damage 3)</p><p></p><p><strong>Defense:</strong></p><p>Dodge 7, Parry 5, Fortitude 4, Toughness 3/1, Will 8</p><p></p><p><strong>Totals:</strong></p><p>Abilities 44 + Powers 10 + Advantages 14 + Skills 32 + Defenses 13 = 113 points</p><p></p><p><strong>Complications:</strong></p><p><strong><em>Greed--Motivation. Memory Lapses. Pretense of Honor and Courtesy. Secret.</em></strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Davies, post: 8111289, member: 30538"] [size=150][color=red]Hannes Zaharoff[/color][/size] [img]https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-m3cpq9Q/0/c79a8040/S/070218-S.png[/img] The man who would rename himself Hannes Zaharoff was born in Gndingen (now Gydnia) in 1908. In his early twenties, after a brilliant career at the University of Warsaw, he was hired by a Polish government ministry, and given a very sensitive position. With characteristic amorality, he proceeded to betray his employers and nation by selling intelligence to the Third Reich, though his sole interest was in their money, rather than their political aims. Having reached a level of comfort, he began to engage in some private genealogical research. He was fascinated to discover that his mother, a Greek woman supposedly born in Thebes, had apparently been born to Aristides Damala and his mistress, then given by Damala's wife, Sarah Bernhardt, to her friend, the notorious 'merchant of death' Basil Zaharoff, who had arranged for her adoption. At least, that was the official story; he developed a very different theory as to what had happened. It seemed much more likely -- to him -- that the child had actually been the child of a heretofore unknown affair between Bernhardt and Zaharoff, which made himself the grandson of a man who shaped the fate of nations. (That this would have meant that his grandfather had dumped his mother somewhere out of the way was not something that he was inclined to view as a character flaw.) Thus, when the Germans and Soviets invaded Poland and he fled the country, he adopted the name Zaharoff as his own, taking up residence in Turkey and selling intelligence to both sides of World War II. In the aftermath of the conflict, predicting the start of the Cold War, he began to organize a new organization which he intended to serve as a third force between the two nascent super-powers, with agents in the ranks of both. The primary goal of this organization was to reap as much money as possible from both sides, with no particular political agenda beyond that. Despite his seeming prescience regarding both the Second World War and the Cold War that followed it, Zaharoff was caught somewhat off-guard by the rise of the superhero, and these bewildering figures did a great deal of damage to his organization's operations in the United States, just as one particularly intrepid agent of British intelligence was doing the same in Europe. Clearly, he would need to improve his game a bit, so he began to sponsor research into mad science for the first time, with an eye towards developing a way to ensure that he, personally, would never be captured or killed by his enemies. This resulted in the discovery of a method to alter someone's appearance to match his own while simultaneously using a combination of drugs and hypnosis to convince that person that they were Hannes Zaharoff, making them into the perfect decoy. The decoys would be kept unconscious until they were needed, and be briefed on awakening about recent events. They would frequently suffer 'memory lapses' when asked about things not covered by the briefing, but Zaharoff's authority remained unquestioned by his agents. At some point in this process, the original Zaharoff died of apparently natural causes. The people who ran the duplicate program released a decoy to take his place, and the whole thing continued. It continued after he was defeated, repeatedly, by the aforementioned British agent, with the replacements regarding all those events as having happened to a decoy, rather than their own, authentic self. Thus, 'Zaharoff', while diminished in wealth and power, actually outlived his famous enemy, who died a miserable, lonely death in the early 1970s. It's not clear whether Pythia knew that the man she approached in 1977 about joining forces was not the original Hannes Zaharoff, but it is not clear whether she would have been concerned about that, either. Regardless, they agreed to unite, with Zaharoff becoming the Insurgency's Director of Espionage. His goal, of course, was unchanged -- to gain as much money for himself as could be imagined, and then perhaps more. He was therefore content to remain in his chosen position, rather than strive to replace Pythia after she apparently began to falter. Or perhaps he viewed this faltering as the falsehood that it may have been. Association with the mad scientists of the Insurgency also allowed a number of improvements to the 'doubling' process, which now involved digital recordings of 'Zaharoff's' brain patterns and the decoys being preserved in so-called 'Russian sleep'. They still suffered memory lapses, however, since the process remained not quite perfected. All of the scientists involved in the decoy process were present in Delphi when the final assault began, and all were accounted for, in one way or another. The story above was revealed in post-operational interviews with the lone survivor of the original group, who was given a death sentence for multiple counts of kidnapping -- the decoys having been largely created from the victims of same. It is believed that the process was completely shut down, and all the extant decoys euthanized. But who knows whether they really got them all? [b]Hannes Zaharoff -- PL 6 Abilities: STR[/b] 2 | [b]STA[/b] 1 | [b]AGL[/b] 3 | [b]DEX[/b] 2 | [b]FGT[/b] 5 | [b]INT[/b] 3 | [b]AWE[/b] 2 | [b]PRE[/b] 4 [b]Powers: [i]Endless Doubles:[/i][/b] Immortality 5 - 10 points [b]Advantages:[/b] Connected, Contacts, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Equipment 4, Evasion, Favored Environment (planned situation), Improved Disarm, Language 4 (English, German, Greek, Italian, others, [Polish becomes native]) Ranged Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Well-informed. [i]Equipment:[/i] Light Pistol (Ranged Damage 3) and 14 points of equipment as needed. [b]Skills:[/b] Deception 4 (+8), Expertise: Business 4 (+7), Expertise: Current Events 6 (+9), Expertise: Conspiracy 7 (+10), Expertise: Politics 6 (+9), Insight 6 (+8), Intimidation 4 (+8), Investigation 5 (+8), Perception 4 (+6), Persuasion 7 (+11), Ranged Combat: Guns 4 (+6) Stealth 2 (+5), Technology 2 (+5), Vehicles 3 (+5), 64 points [b]Offense:[/b] Initiative +3 Unarmed +5 (Close Damage 1) Light Pistol +7 (Ranged Damage 3) [b]Defense:[/b] Dodge 7, Parry 5, Fortitude 4, Toughness 3/1, Will 8 [b]Totals:[/b] Abilities 44 + Powers 10 + Advantages 14 + Skills 32 + Defenses 13 = 113 points [b]Complications: [i]Greed--Motivation. Memory Lapses. Pretense of Honor and Courtesy. Secret.[/i][/b] [/QUOTE]
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