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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8607595" data-attributes="member: 30538">Bridget Helm<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-BwcGmrN/0/fd42bdd1/M/Tatiana-Maslany-she-hulk-1200-1-M.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />In 1911, German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published a novel entitled Alraune, a scientifically updated version of the so-called mandrake myth, which held that women could independently conceive female offspring by consuming that root, believed to spring from the final ejaculations of hanged men. The novel described a woman created through artificial insemination, portrayed as incapable of love, who became involved with one Frank Braun, the protagonist of two other novels by Ewers. As Braun was something of a self-portrait of the author, there are those who have suggested that this novel depicted certain "adventures" of his from the first decade of the twentieth century. No one knows for sure, of course.Exactly one hundred years after the publication of Alraune, however, an individual who went by the name Professor Erich ten Brinck (born Albert Ludlum) announced to the world that he had, eighteen years earlier, recreated the mandrake myth, inseminating a woman with artificially created sperm to produce what he called "the modern Alraune", a young woman named Bridget Helm, whom he now introduced to the public. The "Professor" loudly declared that, with this advancement, science had at last destroyed the so-called "natural order" and killed "god". This naturally attracted the attention of a number of disturbed indviduals who attempted to assassinate both the mad scientist and his beautiful daughter in vengeance for this perceived blasphemy.As this had all happened in Seattle, Trouble took an interest in the case and acted to prevent one of the assassination attempts that seemed likely to succeed. In the process, the living weapon wound up befriending the modern Alraune. As someone who was herself the product of mad science, she felt a certain empathy for Ms. Helm, while coming to strongly dislike the professor. It seemed to her that he was deliberately inflaming the public, and that his rants about the absurdity of the claim that his creation had no soul (which had started before anyone made that claim) seemed to be suggesting just that. Trouble had come to the conclusion that Bridget Helm was somewhat amoral and callous but not a soulless monster, and began to investigate further.She was horrified but not really all that surprised to learn that the account of her origins given by the professor was a lie in almost every particular. First, and perhaps most disturbingly, while he had indeed begun the experiments that would result in her birth eighteen years before, he had only achieved a successful result fourteen years before. Ludlum, to use his real name, had sped up her physical maturation through chemical treatments, and conducted a number of other grotesque experiments on her. In the process, he had learned that his creation could recover from nearly any form of injury, something he had gone to some lengths to test.The ultimate irony was that none of this had been what he wanted. "Deliberately inflaming the public" had been his goal all along, in order to provoke them into the outlawing of experiments of this sort and any form of non-traditional reproduction. The fact that his creation apparently could not die meant the ruination of his plans, even without the involvement of Trouble -- who went to some lengths of her own to ensure that he wound up behind bars. Having done so, she was left with the problem of what to do about Bridget. With help from Sam Hazzard, the young woman was placed in foster care with a couple whom the two women trusted, in hopes that they could help her adjust to a more mundane existence.It did not work. Bridget lived with them for four years, until she aged out of the foster care system, and still thinks of them fondly, but she remained apathetic and indifferent towards the rest of humanity. For a long while she treated those whom she encountered as sources of entertainment and comfort, manipulating them through her charisma and discarding them when she needed them no longer. In recent years, though, she has started to grow out of this behavior; while still indulging in it occasionally, she now prefers to live and let live when possible, and has even sometimes manipulated others in ways that improve their lives, in her view. (Of course, not everyone appreciates these supposed improvements.) When asked about this, she commented that she has come to understand that she is going to be around for a long while, and a world of general misery does not really appeal to her. Bringing up her origins, however, has been known to provoke very vicious responses from her.Unfortunately, the somewhat enlightened attitude she now possesses has come too late for her to avoid winding up on the "monster list" of Maureen Summerisle, after the latter witnessed her casually wrecking the lives of everyone (other than Maureen) who happened to be in a old-fashioned soda shop at the same time as them. Maureen has succeeded in killing Bridget several times, but has yet to devise a way to do so permanently, with the "best" she was able to manage leaving the Alraune out of action for a full month before the concrete cracked enough for her to squeeze herself out. Bridget finds this annoying, to say the least, but just tries to avoid Summerisle when possible, as she is not nearly as vindictive as her nemesis. Besides, they are one who cannot love and one who chooses not to. "Ain't we a pair?" she commented once.Bridget Helm -- PL 6Abilities:STR -1 | STA 5 | AGL 1 | DEX 0 | FGT 2 | INT 2 | AWE 3 | PRE 5Powers:Undying: Immortality 5 (1 day); Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison); Regeneration 20 - 33 pointsAdvantages:Attractive 2, Daze (Deception), Evasion 2, Fascinate (Deception), Defensive Roll, Great Endurance, Improvised Weapon, Jack-of-all-trades, Set-up, Taunt, Ultimate Effort (Deception). Skills:Deception 5 (+10), Expertise: High Society 5 (+7), Expertise: Popular Culture 5 (+7), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+8), Insight 6 (+9), Perception 4 (+7), Persuasion 6 (+11), Sleight of Hand 5 (+5), Stealth 6 (+7).Offense:Initiative +1Unarmed +2 (Close Damage -1) Defense:Dodge 5, Parry 5, Fortitude 5, Toughness 7/5, Will 7Totals:Abilities 34 + Powers 33 + Advantages 13 + Skills 24 + Defenses 11 = 115 pointsOffensive PL: 1*Defensive PL: 6Resistance PL: 6Skill PL: 6Complications:Peace--Motivation. Enemy (Maureen Summerisle.) Manipulative (but not always detrimentally so.) Temper (particularly concerning her origins.)</blockquote>

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