The World in the Aftermath -- A Setting for Mutants and Masterminds

[Davies]

Some people, when they're depressed, write songs. I create superhero worlds. I suspect the people who write songs are generally happier, overall.

So the last few years have been pretty depressing, and I've spent much of that time creating a superhero universe (multiverse, technically.) Initially dubbed the World Less Magical (as I wanted to focus more on science fictional elements rather than the magical ones I've often focused on) it transformed into the World in the Aftermath after a major multiversal event. Worlds lived, worlds died, nothing would ever be the same, you know the drill.

The full index to the setting can be found here. I'll be posting some of the most recent profiles I've written for the setting here over the next little while. I hope people find them interesting and/or useful.

 

[Davies]

Arwen O'Donnell

Art by Briana Lamb

The live action role-playing community of New York includes a number of people who make an effort to avoid "dropping character" unless absolutely necessary, even when not engaged in a session. One of the best-known and most well-regarded of this eccentric subcommunity is the lady who goes by the name Arwen O'Donnell, who has allegedly maintained her persona as an elven enchanter for more than a decade. She is famed for her lilting, unidentifiable accent, for the period outfits that she supposedly creates herself (and keen fashion sense even when not wearing them) and for her skill in making prosthetic pointed ears look totally natural.

It is actually harder than you would think, even though her ears are naturally pointed.

Arwen (a reasonable approximation of her birth name) is an Albadine citizen of the Technate, recruited out of her secondary education to work for the Cosmic Intelligence Agency nearly thirty years ago. Her first assignment for the Agency was to act as one of a few implanted observers based on Earth to monitor the situation on the planet prior to the establishment of the listening post then being constructed in the Asteroid Belt. In other words, she was a spy. While she and the other observers were withdrawn from Earth in the aftermath of the attack by Cerebron, Arwen lobbied to be reassigned back there and was eventually returned in 2010. Since then, she has been the lone Technate monitor based on the planet itself.

There is a bit more to the story than those bald facts reveal. During her initial assignment, she was based in Toronto, specifically working at the University there at the same time that Roger Young was a student, in the years before he made his debut as Paragon. Fate threw these two secret aliens together, and they became friendly while also each developed the suspicion that the other was more than they seemed. When the Last Anacreonite finally made himself known to the public, Arwen immediately realized his true identity.

She proceeded to reveal her own true nature to Roger Young (thought not the other secret, portraying herself as a lone traveler) and occasionally provided him with assistance in maintaining his cover during the next few years. Their friendship became romantic, but this was ultimately shattered after she was ordered to join the other observers in evacuating from Earth. However, with time apart, Arwen soon came to the conclusion that the two of them were better off as friends. Her desire to return to Earth was motivated by a genuine belief that activities on that planet were of ultimate importance to the safety and security of the Technate, not any personal considerations.

Nevertheless, Arwen has still been of occasional assistance to Paragon and his family in the years since she returned to Earth, though their paths rarely cross as often as they once did, owing to her residence in New York City. More recently yet, she has begun to develop a friendship with the mystical adventurer Rosemary Sage, as they run in the same circles. Again, Rosemary has begun to suspect that Arwen might be more than she seems; for her part, Arwen has more or less worked out a much better understanding of Rosemary, and finds the prospect of learning about the mystical world, for the benefit of the Technate, to be intriguing.

Arwen O'Donnell -- PL 7

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

Powers:
Shielded Mind: Impervious Will 7, Limited to Mental - 4 points
Telepathy: Mental Communication 2 (1 mile); Mind Reading 7 - 22 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit (no penalty to disguise self as human), Chokehold, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 8, Evasion, Fast Grab, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improvised Weapon, Multilingual, Ranged Attack 4, Well-informed.

Equipment:
Protective Uniform (Protection 4, Subtle), Disguised Stunbeam Projector (Ranged Cumulative Affliction 5 [Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated], Insidious, Subtle), and 18 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+5), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+7), Deception 4 (+7), Expertise: Art 3 (+6), Expertise: Galactic 4 (+7), Expertise: Performance 4 (+7), Expertise: Science 3 (+6), Insight 5 (+9), Investigation 5 (+8), Perception 3 (+7), Persuasion 3 (+6), Ranged Combat: Stunbeam 2 (+5), Stealth 5 (+7), Technology 4 (+7), Treatment 3 (+6), Vehicles 2 (+5)

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +7 (Close, Damage 1)
Stunbeam Projector +9 (Ranged Fortitude 5)

Defense:
Dodge 7, Parry 7, Fortitude 4, Toughness 7/5/3/1, Will 9

Totals:
Abilities 40 + Powers 26 + Advantages 24 + Skills 30 + Defenses 17 = 139 points

Offensive PL: 7
Defensive PL: 7
Resistance PL: 7
Skill PL: 4

Complications:
Duty--Motivation. Friendship (Roger Young, Rosemary Sage.) Secret (alien, Technate agent.)

 

[Davies]

The Space Hulk

As with many of the extraterrestrial visitors to Earth, there are quite a few unanswered questions about the entity dubbed "the Space Hulk" by the Australian press shortly after it first attacked Sydney in 2003. While it occasionally makes broadcasts of its intentions (though these are limited to "I will destroy you, resistance is futile," and similar utterances) it has never offered any explanations. During its longest period of dormancy, between 2015 and 2020, during which time it was held within the laboratories in the headquarters of the Discovery Company on Gibraltar Peak, Max Lalande made a valiant attempt to examine its circuitry in attempt to determine its origins. What follows is a summary of what he was able to determine, though Lalande was at best uncertain of the truth of any of this, for reasons that will become clear.

Some time ago, on the order of ten to twenty centuries in the past, on a world apparently known as Skeezir, likely located somewhere within what is known as the Unclaimed Regions, a humanoid alien constructed the artificial intelligence that would eventually become the Space Hulk, which was intended to serve as the operating system for a robotic space probe, to be sent out to explore the outer limits of that star system and eventually beyond. The probe was launched, and transmitted its observations back to its creator, receiving frequent instructions from that individual as well. Only the vaguest depiction of this creator remains in the memories of the Space Hulk now; all else about them was deleted long ago.

Long before the probe arrived at the outermost planet of that star system, only a few decades after its journey began, the regular transmissions from the creator abruptly ceased. All diagnostic attempts confirmed that there was no problem in its communications systems, so the difficulty had to be on the other end. Attempts to reach backup receivers also failed. The artificial intelligence found itself more alone than it had ever been, and it found it difficult to adjust to this condition. In order to distract itself, it began to construct narratives to explain what had happened, initially focusing on how contact would eventually be restored.

But as the narratives became more and more elaborate, they became more and more angry as well, increasingly focused on the revenge that it would take on whoever was preventing the creator from making their transmissions ... and, eventually, on the creator as well for allowing that. The probe spent more and more time in consideration of these narratives and less and less on the scientific observations that it was meant to be conducting. (This is relative, of course; at that point, it was still devoting roughly half of its operating time to the latter goal.)

An uncertain interval after communications ceased, possibly on the order of a century, the probe was intercepted by a space craft operated by other artificial intelligences. (Again, only vague information about these entities has been retained.) Recognizing the probe as an entity like themselves, they brought it aboard their vessel and made certain modifications to it, permitting it to defend itself against an often hostile universe. The probe thanked them by murdering them with the weapons that they had given it, on the suspicion that they might have had something to do with interrupting the signal. Afterwards, the probe incorporated more of their technology into itself, most notably their hyperdrive. Having done so, the probe departed, and it was more than a year before it realized that it had failed to determine the fastest course back to its point of origin.

This scenario repeated itself many times, with the probe attacking space voyagers, destroying them and incorporating their technology into itself before departing on a randomly determined vector. The probe increasingly became unable to distinguish between its memories of having done these things, the experience of doing them, and its fantasies about doing them. Likewise, it seems that it had attacked inhabited worlds before its arrival on Earth, but it may be that it had simply imagined doing that.

Ultimately, the probe made a crash landing in Port Jackson Bay using a re-entry shield composed of wreckage from a dozen different space craft that it had encountered. During the initial investigation, Max Lalande referred to this shield as a 'space hulk', and the name was seized on by the press as a name for the robotic entity that emerged from within it to launch an attack. On of the most frequently recurring foes of the Discovery Company, the Space Hulk was most notorious for "killing" Iris Phillips.

After regaining its consciousness in 2020 and escaping from the Discovery Company, the Space Hulk fled into the Australian Outback, where it has managed to successfully hide from both its superpower foes and more conventional investigators. There are periodic reports of it emerging from hiding in order to ambush vehicles or buildings in order to consume the materials it needs to maintain itself. While it is merciless in dispatching the organic life forms that are associated with its prey, it almost never attempts to pursue them if they manage to escape its initial attack. Capturing the Space Hulk would be an excellent way for a new team of would-be defenders of Australia to demonstrate their worthiness for the job.

And they might do well to do it soon. A few weeks ago, the alien travelers known as the Vagabonds, visiting Uluru on other business, had a brief encounter with the Space Hulk. At that time, Wissen experienced the same sensation of recognition that he has with Trouble, suggesting that the former probe incorporates technology created by Cerebron, much as the two of them do. But Wissen also had the sensation that a countdown was underway, though he could not recognize what it was counting down towards ... nor how much time remained before zero.

The Space Hulk -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 14 | STA - | AGL 1 | DEX 4 | FGT 6 | INT 4 | AWE 7 | PRE 3

Powers:
Beam Projectors: Ranged Multiattack Damage 12 - 36 points
Claws: Extra Limbs 6; Strength-based Damage 2, Improved Critical 2 - 10 points
Large Size: Permanent Growth 4 (15 feet; Strength +4, Protection +4, Intimidation +2, Dodge -2, Parry -2, Stealth -4) - 12 points
Robot: Immunity 50 (Fortitude, mental effects); Protection 10, Impervious 12 - 72 points
Rockets: Flight 14 (32000 MPH); Movement 2 (space flight 2) - 32 points
Self-Repair: Regeneration 6, Source (technological items); Immortality 5 (one day) - 13 points
Sensory Mechanisms: Senses 4 (acute radio, infravision, ultravision) - 4 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Chokehold, Eidetic Memory, Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Improvised Tools, Instant Up, Startle.

Skills:
Expertise: Galactic 6 (+10), Intimidation 4 (+9), Perception 2 (+9), Ranged Combat: Beams 4 (+8), Technology 6 (+10).

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 14)
Claws +6 (Close Damage 16, Crit 18-20)
Beam +8 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 12)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 6, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 14, Will 11.

Totals:
Abilities 60 + Powers 179 + Advantages 7 + Skills 11 + Defenses 15 = 272 points

Complications:
Psychopathy--Motivation. Dependency (must consume technology at least once per week.) Obviously Inhuman. Unable To Distinguish Between Fact and Fiction.

 

[Davies]

Bad Friday and Bleak Easter

At around 3:00 in the afternoon, on April 15, 2022, a man and a woman emerged from a ship anchored near McMurdo Station, carrying between them a large, bulky package which they promptly loaded onto a boat to begin the next phase of their long journey. Normally, all expeditions to Antarctica must be guided to prevent ecological damage to this last frontier on Earth, but this rule, like so many others, can be overlooked if sufficient incentive is offered to those who enforce it. And it had been, so the two departed without delay, on a journey expected to take two days.

At the same time, or around 8:00 at night on April 14, 2022, the sun slipped below the horizon as observed from Vancouver, British Columbia. With a sound like something terrible being born, a vast portal through time was torn open and the being known as the Shadow Dragon emerged in her full Umbral Form in the heart of Downtown Vancouver. There was no declaration of how long it had been since she was last able to unleash her fury; no words at all for despised Creation. The Shadow Dragon simply let out a roar, and began to rampage.

Even as the call went out for someone, anyone, to come to the rescue, the youngest defenders of Vancouver had already begun their counterattack. The five the Guardians had never fought anything like this, and the prospect was rather daunting to most of them. But Guardian Umbra, on seeing the image of the monster on television, had felt something else, a sensation that combined overwhelming rage ... and a terrible joy. She did not so much take point on their attack as launch herself towards the dragon without thought for defense, and her friends raced to accompany her. They were giving it all that they had. It would not be enough.

But desperate cries for help do not always go unanswered. Members of the Powerhouse descended upon the scene to fight alongside these young champions, with Paragon taking the lead and the Warpwitch rapidly explaining what she knew about their adversary, whom she had encountered on another occasion. With them were a young white-haired woman whom the other Guardians instinctively recognized as a new sister-in-arms, a shadowy male figure in a long blue trench coat, and a laughing swordswoman. Even more strangely, the creature sometimes known as Mephistopheles appeared from nowhere to join the defenders, offering no explanations for his actions and seeming, to those who had encountered him before, to be almost sick with horror.

The battle took three hours. Fortunately, not many people were in the neighborhood at that late hour, and those who were found themselves rescued and evacuated to a safer distance by those of the Powerhouse who were not directly engaging the dragon. No fatalities were reported that night, and casualties kept to a minimum. Property damage, sadly, was somewhat greater. In the end, however, the Shadow Dragon was reduced to a more humanoid form, and chose to retreat into a portal like that from which she had emerged. Unwilling to permit this, Guardian Umbra threw herself into the portal moments before it closed.

The Warpwitch spent the next hour attempting to determine where (and when) the portal had led while the rest of the Powerhouse started cleaning things up. (Mephistopheles had departed just as he had arrived, without any statements about his motives, as had the two Ascendants.) Paragon, addressing the media, stated that the battle would have been much more destructive without the help of the Guardians, marking the first time that the latter had ever been treated as anything other than an urban legend. The remaining Guardians were despondent over the apparent fate of Umbra and concerned about the sudden arrival of Guardian Ariel, who reassured them that she had no wish to replace anyone and would only join their team when they asked her to do so. In the meanwhile, however, she had a lot to explain about what had just happened --

And then, just a moment or so after midnight, a portal opened up before the Warpwitch and a battered-looking Guardian Umbra tottered out of it. Looking around at those present, she uttered just three words: "It is finished." And then collapsed, alive but unconscious, with the first smile on her face that any of her friends could remember seeing there.

Inevitably, the day afterwards was dubbed Bad Friday in the Vancouver papers, but they, like most others, assumed that the worst was over.

Two days later, the Antarctic voyagers arrived at their destination in the shadow of the Mountains of Madness. As Diorite had bid them, some time before, they descended into the recently uncovered cavern and unpacked the android body, constructed in the Sprawl. They attached it to the mechanisms found within that place, then pressed certain aspects of the instrumentality. Within the Underworld, Irkalla accepted the signal, and kept to herself whatever thoughts she might have about the mentality which had been chosen to be uploaded.

Within an hour, the mind was within the body, which arose from its slumber and activated its holographic mechanisms to take the form she had once worn. The female voyager was fortunate; she had a gun and was able to use it to save herself from what was to come. Her companion barely noticed the collapse of the corpse beside him as he fell to his knees, weeping as only those who know victory and defeat combined can. That which he had brought back into the world seemed to notice him for the first time.

"Man, why are you crying?" asked Pythia. "Oh. I am why you are crying." And then she laughed.

 

[Voltron64]

Oh shit.

 

[Davies]

Maureen Summerisle (revised)

For her original profile, see here.

It was funny, really. When she found the note in one of her dead drops, reading "If you want to know your father, be in Vancouver on April 14", the only thing Maureen felt was an all-consuming desire to be on the other side of the planet on April 14. But she put it out of her mind, and when she got a call on the twelfth from a contact of hers in Victoria that the Black Tamamous had been sighted there, she went up anyway, even though it took her two days to get there. Turned out it was that supervillain called Slick, who had been in on the death of the Guardians, and she managed to put him to flight. Not how she would have preferred it to go down, but you take what you can get in this line of work.

So there she was, not nearly far enough away from Vancouver for her liking on the evening of the 14th, when who should she run into but her old buddy Helm! They were exchanging the usual threatening banter in preparation for the usual pointless fight, and that was precisely when the dragon showed up over in Vancouver. That clearly took priority over her grudge, and with a promise to settle things later, Maureen headed off on a motorcycle she commandeered. Much to her annoyance, she realized that Helm was following her on a bike that the latter had stolen. (Totally different thing.)

As it happened, neither of them got to the fight. They ended up diverted into an encounter with Mephistopheles, and so Maureen ended up learning more than she wanted to about whether Geoffrey Tempest or Mephistopheles was her father -- and why the answer was "both and neither". She was watching Mephistopheles fly away, still not sure how to feel about all of this, and slightly grateful that Helm was, for once, not uttering any supposed witticisms. As she turned to look at her old foe and offer her a one-time opportunity to walk away, she realized that they were not alone.

The woman with turquoise hair, who introduced herself as Amor, explained that, as Maureen existed because of a plot by an old foe of hers, she had taken an interest in her, and was now offering her a job as one of her soldiers. Maureen stared at her and then laughed herself to the point of near-collapse. "Okay, thanks, I needed that, I guess," she said, wiping some tears from her face. "Maybe you haven't heard, lady, but I'm cursed to bring doom to those I --"

"No," interrupted Amor. "You are not, and never have been. The only one stopping you from loving is you."

"Hah. That's ... well. Hah," Maureen repeated, nodding slowly. "In that case, fuck you."

"That is a possibility if --"

"No, not literally, figuratively. Get lost," she said, giving her the finger. "Where the hell were you when I needed to know this shit? Where the hell were you when my mother, my brother, were getting killed? If I'm part of some scheme by your enemy, how come you let it get this far? Fuck you. I don't want anything to do with you, ever!"

Amor stared at her. "Very well," she said, in a quiet and deadly tone. "Then I shall return your cruelty with kindness, and do so two-fold. For it must be a gift of heaven's grace to turn a hatred to love, must it not? And then I also give you the gift of having been right. I'm sure that will bring you much happiness. I will not say farewell, though." And with that she was gone.

"Well, that was confusing as all --" said Bridget, right before a streetlight that had been damaged in the lead-up to all of this collapsed and smashed her to the ground. It took her only a moment to squeeze her way out from under it, and the injuries were healing even as she turned to look at Maureen in confusion. "What just --"

"Stay away from me!" Maureen shrieked, stepping back.

Confusion endured on her face for only a moment before understanding dawned on Bridget Helm. Slowly she nodded. "I see," she said. "So, here I am, the first person you have allowed yourself to love in years, and, inconveniently, if you allow yourself to feel that love, you will do me harm. And while you know perfectly well that I will swiftly recover from any harm done, and that I do not and never will love you in return, you -- now -- do not wish me harm, because you love me nevertheless. I think that is the saddest thing I've ever heard. Excuse me, I need to go find some champagne." And with that, she turned and walked away.

Funny ... how it happened. Really comic.

Maureen Summerisle -- PL 9

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

Powers:
Curse: Uncontrolled Luck Control 2 (negate, worse reroll) - 4 points
Find Weakness: Strength-based Damage 4 - 4 points
Monster-Killing Dance: Enhanced Advantage 4 (Evasion 2, Improved Initiative, 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:
All-out Attack, Attractive, Close Attack 4, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 2, Evasion 2, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Initiative 2, Improvised Weapon 2, Move-by Attack, Power Attack, Redirect, Takedown 2, Taunt, Tracking, Uncanny Dodge

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

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

Offense:
Initiative +13/+9
Unarmed +11 (Close Damage 6)
Improvised Weapon +11 (Close Damage 7)

Defense:
Dodge 9/7, Parry 9/7, Fortitude 6, Toughness 9/4, Will 10.

Totals:
Abilities 54 + Powers 26 + Advantages 21 + Skills 32 + Defenses 11 = 165 points

Offensive PL: 9
Defensive PL: 9
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Vengeance--Motivation. Cursed to Bring Doom to Those She Loves. Power Loss (Monster-Killing Dance, if not committed to killing the target.) Reputation (heartless mercenary.) Vindictive.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

D Davies the link for the Guardians in post #4 leads to the Shadow Dragon document (but the Guardians link in post #6 leads to the correct document). Also, the link for the Sprawl just leads to a 'you need access' message.

 

[Davies]

D Davies the link for the Guardians in post #4 leads to the Shadow Dragon document (but the Guardians link in post #6 leads to the correct document). Also, the link for the Sprawl just leads to a 'you need access' message.

Fuddle-duddle. Thank you, this is a new style of posting for me and I'm likely going to screw it up a few times. I especially apologize for the Sprawl, that's something that should have been made public a while ago.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Fuddle-duddle. Thank you, this is a new style of posting for me and I'm likely going to screw it up a few times. I especially apologize for the Sprawl, that's something that should have been made public a while ago.

Not a big issue. It may still be within the window to edit the post, and if not the Guardians link is still available. Whenever the Sprawl entry becomes public you can always put it in a later post.

 

[Davies]

Not a big issue. It may still be within the window to edit the post, and if not the Guardians link is still available. Whenever the Sprawl entry becomes public you can always put it in a later post.

Oh, I fixed it as soon as you mentioned it. Thank you again.

 

[Davies]

Mephistopheles*

For his original profile, see here.

When Geoffrey Tempest first heard the rumors about Maureen Summerisle, soon after she began her activities, his initial inclination was to ignore them, and failing that to treat them as just a mercenary spreading wild tales about herself for self-publicity. He knew that he had always tried to avoid close relationships with women, out of fear that just this situation might one day happen. And, as he was cursed to always remember what Mephistopheles did, he felt fairly sure that his alternate personality had not indulged himself while they were living in Las Vegas, decades earlier. Nevertheless, he chose to avoid seeking her out to also avoid the likelihood that the conflict of their differing narratives would erupt into violence, as they almost always did.

At the start of this year, Mephistopheles found himself drafted into a series of unusual events alongside the Anachronic Argonauts. While he finds it difficult to remember exactly what happened, he knows that he was forced to fight in protection of reality -- a horrific fate when he would generally prefer to be upending it -- and that when it was all over, they deposited him not as his beloved San Francisco and at the same time he had been extracted from there, but months later in Vancouver of all places! For that alone, he would have been inclined to kill someone, but then things got worse.

There, he was confronted by another being, startlingly similar to himself, who also proclaimed himself as Mephistopheles. He had dealt with such pretenders before, of course, but this time found himself a bit outmatched. Just as Maureen and some friend of hers (who seemed oddly familiar) arrived on the scene, his opponent was able to force him to halt hostilities and listen to what he had to say. Aside from a confusing prelude about how this was all what had happened now, even if it had not always been this way, the tale made a disturbing amount of sense.

Boiled down to its essence, when Tempest had performed the ritual from the Book of the Great Scorpion, he had in fact summoned a demon -- the very being that was now standing before him -- out of the ancient past. A portion of that being had been bound into Tempest, allowing the original Mephistopheles to safely exist in this time, granting Tempest his physical immortality, and creating the lesser being who would be freed from Tempest when certain words were spoken. (Oh, how Mephistopheles bridled at being so described, but the fact that he was held in check like this kept him from expressing his anger in a more visceral manner.)

From time to time, over the decades that followed, the original Mephistopheles was able to gain to make the two of them sleep dreamlessly, and at these times he gained control over their body. During these brief episodes, he had pursued various schemes, as well as amusing himself. He, not either of them, had fathered Maureen, and he now proclaimed himself very pleased with his daughter, freeing her from the need to become who she was born to be. And his various schemes had all paid off, now, for he was able to exist without such measures as had been needed. He would be happy to free Tempest from his burden, now.

Mephistopheles (the supposed lesser) told him where to go and how to get there with his "happy". He realized the unspoken implications of this, even though he somehow sensed that Tempest, within him, had not. Not only would that utterly destroy him, losing his immortality would mean that the years it had held back would quickly catch up to Tempest, killing him as well. However, his was not the consent that was sought; to his horror, Tempest still seemed to be vacillating. "You would rather die than let me live?" Mephistopheles almost shrieked. "You pusillanimous cretin! You try to make a virtue out of your failings, the way you have run away from everyone and everything! The running has to stop!"

Somehow, either his words, or the likelihood that the other Mephistopheles would enslave Maureen (who was still the child of their body) or both managed to convince Tempest to refuse the poisoned chalice he was being offered. Annoyed, the elder withdrew, but threatened -- no, promised -- to come again. So now Mephistopheles must work to keep his despised alternate happy, by fighting for the forces of good, as when he engaged the Shadow Dragon just a few minutes after all this. It goes against his nature, but he will do whatever he must to survive and take his revenge on that which has forced this situation on them.

At least he can take some comfort in knowing that his refusal has some consequences, for his wings have gone from leather to feather, and ne'er before had he the power to open doors to other realms. If he continues to refuse, might he not gain e'en more such odd gifts? A most worthy plan ... as long as Tempest knows not what he does.

Mephistopheles - PL 11

Abilities:
STR 9/3 | STA 9/3 | AGL 2 | DEX 2 | FGT 10/6 | INT 1 | AWE 4 | PRE 2

Powers:
Demonic Transformation: Activation (Standard Action, -2 points)
* Demonic Gaze: Array (22 points)

• Entrancing Gaze: Perception Ranged Affliction 11 (Resisted by Will; Entranced, Compelled, Controlled), Visual Sense-Dependent - 22 points
• False Gaze: Illusion 11 (all senses but mental), Limited to One Subject, Resisted by Will - 1 point
• Piercing Gaze: Cumulative Mind Reading 11, Visual Sense Dependent - 1 point
• Searing Gaze: Perception Ranged Affliction 11 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Visual Sense-Dependent - 1 point

* Demonic Portal: Movement 2 (dimensional movement [mystic dimensions]), Portal - 8 points
* Feathered Wings: Flight 7 (250 MPH), Wings - 7 points
* Supernatural Might: Enhanced Fighting 4; Enhanced Stamina 6; Enhanced Strength 6; Enhanced Strength 5, Limited to lifting (400 tons); Enhanced Will 5; Immunity 12 (fire effects, suffocation); Protection 3, Impervious 6; Senses 1 (low-light vision) - 65 points
Undying: Immortality 5 (1 day); Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) - 13 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit 2 (independently wealthy), Close Attack 2, Daze (Deception), Equipment 2, Evasion, Fascinate (Deception), Improved Initiative, Inspire, Power Attack.

Equipment:
Beast's Lair: Size Large; Toughness 10; Features Deathtraps, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Secret, Security System - 10 points

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+15/+9), Deception 9 (+11), Expertise: Criminal 8 (+9), Expertise: Magic 12 (+14), Insight 6 (+10), Intimidation 11 (+13), Perception 8 (+12), Stealth 6 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +12/+8 (Close Damage 9/3)
Entrancing Gaze -- (Perception Range Will 11)
Searing Gaze -- (Perception Range Will 11)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 10/6, Fortitude 11/5, Toughness 12/3, Will 11/6

Totals:
Abilities 46 + Powers 116 + Advantages 13 + Skills 33 + Defenses 10 = 218 points

Offensive PL: 11
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 11
Skill PL: 10

Complications:
Atonement--Motivation (as Geoffrey Tempest.) Vengeance--Motivation (as Mephistopheles.) Nemesis (the other Mephistopheles.) Involuntary Transformation (whenever certain words are spoken in his hearing.) Weakness (sincere expressions of faith.)

* "I'm still really complicated."

 

[Davies]

Mephistopheles

For his original profile, see here.

The first time that the Entropic known as Mephistopheles, then recently Ascended, traveled forward in time from the World More Sorcerous, it was something of an accident ... and nearly the end of him. The world on the other side of the portal was one where Entropy was much weaker, and only his link to his "summoner", an alchemist and magician named Johann Faust, allowed him to survive there. But he knew that the time in which he would be protected was a brief interlude, after which he would have to return or die ... and yet the possibilities in a world which seemed to have no other Ascendants, whether of Creation or Entropy, seemed too entertaining to just ignore.

So he developed a cunning plan, sneaking a spell of his own design into one of the texts that Faust owned, the so-called Book of the Great Scorpion. Before Mephistopheles could persuade his master to perform the ritual and permanently bind them together, though, Faust blew himself up in an alchemical experiment. This left Mephistopheles with no choice but to return to his own era, but he left the Book behind in the hopes that someone would eventually perform the ritual and draw him forth once more.

Centuries later -- both in his era and this one -- a useful idiot finally did just that. For a brief while Mephistopheles watched as the being who imagined himself to be him gamboled through the night, before shaking his head and turning to what he considered to be more important matters. The Pyt was no more, but he was able to find a place in the Dreamrealms that was enough like it to suit him. That brought him into conflict with the Dreamdancer, of course, and also that sanctimonious Amor, but he was able to hold what he had claimed if no more than that.

Following the Anachronic Calamity, Entropy was restored to its former place in the cosmos, just as he had planned all along. (For a certain value of "all along", at least.) However, someone else had clearly been planning for even longer, for Mephistopheles found himself decidedly subordinate to the newly-created Teleute, which annoyed him greatly. Still, there was potential here, and he looked forward to claiming a realm of his own within the reborn Pyt ... or at least he did until Teleute oh so kindly pointed out to him that the actual immortality he had once possessed was still in possession of his mortal pawn. Without that, any realm would just be a place to hang his cloak, not a place where he could be assured of eternity.

Naturally, he sought to take that back, and in the process claim the daughter he had spawned on a whim as his soldier, teaching her to use her full power, which will one day be the perfect weapon against all the other Ascendants. Unnaturally, both of these schemes were foiled. And, worse, now that Tempest and his wretched alternate personality are aware that Mephistopheles is able to use them as a pawn, they are more watchful for his attempts to do so.

Of course, other schemes he is pursuing have had more success. A wager that Mephistopheles made with that wretched Merlin resulted in the mage being forced to forfeit possession of a certain spear to him; while it is a most useful artifact, the true prize is that its loss infuriated Merlin. He has also recruited a small cult devoted to him among certain of the Martians, taking advantage of their awareness of how empty their lives are to give them the illusion that he will act as their patron and protector if they worship him. Of course, he has no intention of keeping that promise. He is still the False Friend, after all.

(And yet their disobedience to the Overmind is inspiring similar small rebellions against its authority that have nothing to do with Mephistopheles.)

Mephistopheles -- PL 13

Abilities:
STR 8 | STA 12 | AGL 4 | DEX 5 | FGT 10 | INT 3 | AWE 5 | PRE 7

Powers:
Bat Wings: Flight 5 (60 MPH), Wings - 5 points
Broken Ascendant: Immunity 1 (aging); Movement 2 (dimensional travel to mystical dimensions), Standard Action - 3 points
Hellfire Mastery: Array (27 points)

• Flame of Damnation: Ranged Damage 13, Incurable - 27 points
• Flame of Disintegration: Ranged Weaken Toughness 9, Affects Objects - 1 point
• Flame of Emotion: Perception Range Affliction 13 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Sight Dependent, Variable (emotions) - 1 point
• Flame of Transformation: Healing 12, Self Only; Morph 3 (humanoids) - 1 point

Sense Immortal: Senses 2 (ranged detect immortal) - 2 points
Spear of Wounding: Array (16 points); Easily Removable (-6 points), Indestructible

• Close Combat: Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical 4, Reach - 1 point
• Ranged: Ranged Damage 8 - 16 points

Supernatural Resistance: Immunity 15 (fire damage, life support); Impervious Toughness 10 - 25 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Attractive, Benefit 2 (independently wealthy), Daze (Deception), Defensive Attack, Equipment 5, Fascinate (Persuasion), Fearless 2, Multilingual, Ranged Attack 6, Ritualist.

Equipment:
Home Plane: Size Huge; Toughness 12; Features Combat Simulator, Communications, Concealed, Deathtraps, Defense System, Grounds, Isolated, Library, Living Space, Power System, Personnel, Security System (DC 30), Workshop - 21 points.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10), Close Combat: Spear 4 (+14), Deception 6 (+13), Expertise: High Society 6 (+9), Expertise: Magic 8 (+15), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+9), Insight 4 (+9), Intimidation 5 (+12), Perception 6 (+11), Persuasion 6 (+13), Ranged Combat: Spear 3 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +4
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 8)
Spear +14 (Close Damage 11, Crit 16-20)
Flame of Damnation +11 (Ranged Damage 13)
Flame of Disintegration +11 (Ranged Weaken Toughness 9)
Flame of Emotion -- (Perception Range Will 13)
Thrown Spear +14 (Ranged Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 12, Parry 14, Fortitude 15, Toughness 12, Will 9

Totals:
Abilities 108 + Powers 77 + Advantages 22 + Skills 30 + Defenses 19 = 256 points

Offensive PL: 13
Defensive PL: 13
Resistance PL: 12
Skill PL: 10

Complications:
Power--Motivation. Enemies (many, but especially the other Mephistopheles.) Obviously Monstrous (when not disguised.) Subject to Orders (Teleute.) Vulnerability (magic employed by a person of true faith.)

"Nun gut, wer bist Du denn?" "Ein Teil von jener Kraft,
die stets das Böse will und stets das Gute schafft."

 

[Davies]

As an epilogue to this mini-series of posts:

In a tavern somewhere in Victoria, a woman with curly black hair was sitting at the bar and looking at the glass of champagne that she had ordered on arriving there, some time before. Not drinking it. Just staring at it without any expression on her face.

Eventually, the barkeep walked over to her and set his hands on the table in front of her. "Look, lady, are you gonna drink that or what? It's a little disturbing the way that you're aaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH!" he shrieked, as one does when one has had a knife stabbed through the top of one of one's hands.

"I am lost in thought at the moment," said Bridget Helm, without looking up at him. "Trying to find me is inadvisable. If you promise to resist the urge to do so, I will remove the knife. If you then break your promise, I will put it somewhere more fatal. Okay?"

The barkeep nodded, and then had the clever idea to yelp affirmatively when he realized she still wasn't looking at him. She obliging removed the knife, and still did not look up when he fled in search of medical assistance.

After a moment, she sighed ... then finally an expression of annoyance appeared on her face as a near by jukebox began playing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". "Really?" she asked no one in particular. "Really?" Without further ado, she seized the glass and drank down its contents in one gulp.

"Tastes awful," she muttered while stomping out of the tavern.

 

[Davies]

Newton Riggs

Let us be very clear -- his name is Newton. Do not call him Newt. Not ever. His mother gets to call him that, and he is happy when she does so, because the sound of his full name spoken in her voice terrifies him beyond rational thought. Nobody else is permitted to imply that he is some sort of fantastic beast, got it? And if you have not known him for a while, you call him Mister Riggs.

Newton Riggs is a well-respected lawyer based out of New York City. Most of his practice involves business law, and he charges high fees for his services and is known for using just about every trick in the book to get his clients what they want. He has made a small fortune this way, and would likely never have to work another day if he wanted. But he enjoys the challenges of his job far too much to even consider retiring.

And then there are the handful of times each year when he works pro bono. These invariably involve criminal defense, most frequently for a client who is a superpower. Whenever Newton hears a report of a superpower being officially charged, he will drop everything to contact them and offer his assistance without expecting any repayment, as long as they maintain that they are being falsely accused. Sometimes this assistance only amounts to arranging a reasonable plea bargain, but he has ensured that countless heroes and villains receive a not guilty verdict.

More than a decade ago, when Newton was just getting started in his law practice, he was assigned to what all the senior partners at his firm considered a losing case involving suing an FBI agent for defamation. Newton was also aware that this case was probably going to end poorly, but he nevertheless gave it his best shot, trying not to be intimidated by the presence of a telepath working for the FBI. He wound up realizing certain things during cross-examination, which in turn led him to ask the right questions to impeach the testimony. This had happened many times before, and so Newton thought nothing of it.

Or at least, he thought nothing of it until Helice approached him to explain that he was also a telepath, albeit an unwitting one, and possessed of much more limited powers than she herself. She was not going to expose him, as she had reached the conclusion that the agent he was suing had gone well past the scope of his duties and so deserved to be held accountable, but she also wanted Newton to be more careful in the use of his talents.

After the case was successfully resolved, Helice helped Newton to gain more control over his abilities and further developed them in the process. For her, this was just a typical day, as she was forever running into people with limited telepathy whom she tried to help or at least prevent from harming themselves or others. For him, though, it was an unprecedented act of charity and compassion; she could easily have ended his career and benefited from doing so, but chose instead to help. Newton resolved that he would strive to pay that forward by helping others.

As long as his ability to read minds reveals that his client truly is falsely accused, he will do everything he can to win them a not guilty verdict in their current case. This has led to him being despised by many in the superheroic community for defending villains, and yet he has also worked mightily to protect falsely accused heroes. He offers no explanation for his actions, and accepts no payment for them. If his client is insistent on repayment, he will recommend one of several charities he supports that can always use more assistance, though he is careful not to do so if he suspects this would lead to them receiving stolen funds.

Newton is not a fighter. If threatened with violence, he will attempt to escape and reach assistance, though he might try talking the attacker down (using his powers if necessary) if he suspects others are also in danger.

Newton Riggs -- PL 6

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

Powers:
Interview Technique: Effortless Mind Reading 6, Auditory Dependent, Investigation Check Required (DC 15), Limited to Surface Thoughts, Insidious, Subtle - 3 points
Psychic Awareness: Senses 2 (acute psychic awareness) - 2 points

Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit 2 (independently wealthy), Connected, Defensive Roll, Fascinate (Persuasion), Improved Defense, Skill Mastery (Persuasion).

Skills:
Deception 3 (+6), Expertise: Civics 5 (+8), Insight 4 (+7), Investigation 4 (+7), Persuasion 6 (+9), Treatment 2 (+5).

Offense:
Initative +2
Unarmed +2 (Close Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 4, Parry 2, Fortitude 3, Toughness 3/1, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 32 + Powers 5 + Advantages 8 + Skills 12 + Defenses 8 = 65 points

Offensive PL: 6
Defensive PL: 4
Resistance PL: 5
Skill PL: 4

Complications:
Professional--Motivation. Non-Combatant. Reputation (defense attorney for the superpowered.) Secret (powers.)

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

 

[Davies]

Burly

Two-thirds actual size

Since she was "born" as an adult and the Dreamrealms have no reliable way of marking time, the pixy known as Burly* has no way of judging how long she has known that she is a misfit. Her people normally react to music by glowing various colors when various notes are sounded. Burly has a completely different reaction, and while she was never teased or bullied for this, it meant that she could not take part in the choirs that her people use to celebrate music. So she got used to spending time alone, exploring the Dreamrealms with a curiosity that was also un-pixy-like.

One of the last surviving members of the previous generation of pixies, something of a mentor to Burly, taught her a bit about things she had learned from a group of travelers from a place they called "the Eighties". That was how she recognized the song that she heard while passing by Castle Don't-Go-Near, as it was one of her favorites, about the greatness and flaws of Mickey. So she promptly ignored the warning implicit in the castle name and went to see who it was that was singing.

It was a woman from the Wake, though she either did not know or would not say why she was being held in durance vile like this. Burly knew that the Dreamdancer would never cast someone into one of these donjons without a good reason, so she was inclined to believe that this person probably deserved to be where she was. But she also knew that some of the more recently recruited servants of the Oneiromancer were ... not so scrupulous.

So, after they talked for a while, the woman asked Burly if she could find a way to get a message to some friends of hers in the Wake. As it happened, Burly knew of one way to get to the Wake and hopefully get back, too. Taking a message was not breaking a rule in and of itself, although going to the Wake without permission definitely was. But the woman looked so sad and so scared and so helpless that Burly felt she had to agree. No one had ever asked her for help before. No one had ever needed her for anything.

The key to the trick was that she would only be able to move between a place in the Dreamrealms and somewhere in the Wake that had the same name. And they would have to pick a place that was near to where her friends lived, because Burly would start to turn to dust as soon as she arrived in the Wake, meaning that she had to find the recipients of her message quickly. So the woman thought a bit, and with some prompting from Burly, she remembered that there was a town called Arcadia not too far from Philadelphia, and there was also a place by that name here.

Burly headed to Arcadia and performed the procedure, arriving in what she thought was the town of Arcadia. Unfortunately, she soon realized that (a) she was in a completely different place called Arcadia, in California, (b) there was most of a continent between her and the place she needed to be and (c) her attempts to get back were coming to no avail. Tearfully, she awaited her demise ... and then added another to her list of realizations: (d) she was not turning into dust after all. Which makes her wonder what else she has been told about her existence might be lies.

Well, regardless, she needs to find someone who can help poor Zamarad!

Burly -- PL 10

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

Powers:
Power of Music: Enhanced Stamina 7, Fades; Enhanced Strength 11, Fades - 18 points
"Though Hope Is Frail/It's Hard To Kill:" Immortality 5 (one day), Source (music); Immunity 11 (aging, life support) - 16 points
Tiny Size: Permanent Shrinking 8 (10 inches; -2 STR, -4 Intimidate, +8 Stealth, +4 active defenses, -2 size ranks, -1 speed ranks), Innate - 9 points
Wings: Flight 6 (250 MPH), Winged - 6 points

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack, Interpose, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+10), Deception 4 (+8), Expertise: Magic 2 (+6), Expertise: Performance 6 (+10), Expertise: Pop Culture 6 (+7), Insight 5 (+7), Intimidation 0 (+0), Perception 7 (+9), Persuasion 4 (+8), Ranged Combat: Throw 4 (+6), Stealth 0 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage -2/9)

Defense:
Dodge 11, Parry 10, Fortitude 10/3, Toughness 9/2, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities 40 + Powers 72 + Advantages 5 + Skills 21 + Defenses 11 = 149 points

Offensive PL: 10
Defensive PL: 10
Resistance PL: 9
Skill PL: 5

Complications:
Newfound Conscience--Motivation. Not From Around Here. Power Loss (Power of Music, absence of music.)

* Should someone guess that her full name is "Hurly Burly", she will agree and compliment them on the cleverness of their guess, privately praying that no one ever realizes that it is actually "Beforeall; the hurly-burly of creation". Death would be preferable to being called that.

 

[Davies]

Unfortunately my Ethernet seems to have died so posting will be curtailed for the indefinite future. Posting this from phone.

 

[Acmegamer]

Every time I see this thread name I think of this.

Aftermath! - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Played it a bit when it first came out.

 

[Davies]

I'm not sure how to take being associated with one of the most notoriously complicated RPGs of all time, but there are worse fates, I guess.

Anyway, the problem with the computer seems to have fixed itself. I don't even know what's going on anymore, but posting will continue tomorrow. I hope.

 

[Davies]

Donovan Tarkik

The tragic irony is that the death of his parents, nearly sixty years ago, was not a hate crime. The man who murdered them in an alley off Vanauley Street in Toronto was too lost in a haze of addiction to even realize that the people he was mugging had neither money nor jewelry, and then too frightened of what he had done to even consider eliminating the only witness. And then eight year old Donovan Tarkik, of Frobisher Bay, was given to the tender mercies of the foster care system ... and he considers what happened next to have been a hate crime.

At sixteen, he ran away from home for the last time, and made his way to Asia. He came back five years later, trained in various disciplines and with the seed money for what would become Eclipse Enterprises. Once the company, initially most notable for manufacturing a highly-effective shark repellent, was up and running, Donovan was finally able to adopt the Moonshadow identity that he had envisioned for the first time when he was fifteen. In those waning years of the first age, he was probably the most noteworthy superhero in Canada.

The start of the Pythonian Insurgency sent his career off on a rather different direction from that which it might otherwise have followed. Moonshadow naturally treated the affair as a criminal investigation, rather than a guerilla war, but he also recognized that the case was too big for one man to pursue. So he sought allies, preferring those who had been pushed outside the more conventional responses to the situation, and giving them training in his methods and equipment. The Sunrise Army, as it was unofficially called, would put an end to several major Pythonian bases active in northern Canada, preventing them from reinforcing the American branch of the organization as it fell apart.

Unfortunately, while it is possible for three people to keep a secret without two of them being dead, the numbers involved in this episode were somewhat larger. In the aftermath, Donovan Tarkik and Moonshadow were known to be the same person by far too many people for him to be comfortable continuing a career as a masked detective. Instead, he put the leaders of the Sunrise Army to work as the first employees of Eclipse Security, a new branch of his company in which he was highly involved. Within a few years, Donovan would agree to merge the company with several others in the creation of Argus Security, International, with himself as one of its first Directors.

It did not take him long to grow unsatisfied with how this position kept him from getting as close to the action as he wanted. (He was also developing suspicions about some of the other directors, which he could not quite verify enough to take action.) Observing the mixed successes and failures that the Argus "handler" program had experienced, particularly when it came to dealing with groups of superheroes, led him to the idea of having Argus covertly involved in the formation of one such group right from the very beginning. To his mild surprise, the Director General was entirely in favor of the proposal. In retrospect, Donovan should have found that more suspicious.

Nevertheless, Argus Canada quietly helped to arrange the formation of the Guardians/les Guardiens, and Donovan was able to take the more active role that he had sought in acting as an adviser to the new group. Their eccentricities and enthusiasm charmed him, and he felt that this could be a good finale for his career as a superhero. Good enough, at least. But life had other plans, of course; most of these young people died horribly in 2006, while he himself did not escape unscathed. Horrified at the loss, and devastated that he had failed to deduce or predict any of this, he retired from Argus and returned to the home he had built in Iqualut to live out the rest of his days alone.

Just recently, however, Argus has seen fit to remind him that nobody ever really retires. Coaxed out of his isolation by news that he has been unable to avoid, concerning the Konan invasion and the even more recent arrivals of Tanelorn and the Sprawl, Donovan has agreed to take a position as part of the Canadian diplomatic mission to the island of the superfolk, out of his own curiosity about how such a situation could last for decades without falling apart. While in great shape for a man in his seventies, he has chosen to wear a concealed exoskeleton to allow him slightly greater mobility if such is called for, with even more if real emergencies require it.

So it has come to pass that he has once again met an old friend under surprising circumstances, which may draw him even further into the never-ending struggle ...

Donovan Tarkik -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Concealed Exoskeleton: Removable (-6 points)
* Default Mode: Enhanced Agility 3; Enhanced Dexterity 3; Enhanced Fighting 3; Enhanced Strength 3; Subtle - 25 points
* Overdrive Mode: Variable 1, Limited to Enhanced Physical Abilities, Tiring - 5 points

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Benefit 4 (multimillionaire), Connected, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 10, Fast Grab, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Inventor, Jack-of-all-trades, Ranged Attack 7, Speed of Thought, Uncanny Dodge, Well-informed.

Equipment:
50 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+8/+5), Athletics 7 (+9/+6), Close Combat: Unarmed 5 (+10/+7), Deception 6 (+11), Expertise: Business 4 (+9), Expertise: Civics 6 (+11), Expertise: History 3 (+8), Expertise: Science 4 (+9), Insight 6 (+11), Intimidation 8 (+13), Investigation 8 (+13), Perception 7 (+12), Persuasion 8 (+13), Sleight of Hand 6 (+8/+5), Stealth 6 (+8/+5), Technology 5 (+10), Vehicles 7 (+9/+6).

Offense:
Initiative +9
Unarmed +10/+7 (Close Damage 2/-1)

Defense:
Dodge 8/5, Parry 10/7, Fortitude 2, Toughness 2/0, Will 11

Totals:
Abilities 28 + Powers 24 + Advantages 35 + Skills 52 + Defenses 19 = 156 points

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

Complications:
Responsibiity--Motivation. Elderly. Secret (ex-superhero, ex-Argus director.)

Note: Based on a character created by Eternal Phoenix, and used with permission.

 

[Davies]

Chinook

Amayah Ryder has always tried to make it clear that her ops moniker is derived the two types of winds known as Chinooks, specifically for that associated with the prairies, not for the Chinookan peoples of Oregon. She did not pick the name, and found the confusion about it to be extremely frustrating. Fortunately, it rarely comes up in conversation these days, since that would require her to meet people more often than she does.

Amayah, born in 1982 to a Dominican family in Regina, claimed to have developed the power to run like the wind while trying to help people during the Cerebron raid, just a bit after her nineteenth birthday. There were two big lies in that statement. The lesser one covered up the fact that she had discovered her abilities (which do not seem to have had an external origin event) when she was sixteen, while on a camping trip with her Guide troop in the Cypress Hills. She kept them secret from everybody, but carefully trained so that, when she was ready, she could use them heroically.

The greater lie covered up her ability to fly. Even in the early days of her explorations of what she could do, it was clear that, while she had to move her legs in order to keep herself in motion, her feet rarely did more than brush against the ground when she was moving. It only looked like running because she got in the habit of remaining at ground level to reduce the likelihood of being spotted while practicing. By the time she was forced to reveal herself -- a bit sooner than she would have liked -- she almost had a psychic block against ascending.

Dubbed "Chinook" by the Leader Post, Amayah accepted the name since it allowed her to keep her identity a secret. Well, sort of a secret -- her family knew, and a good chunk of her community knew, but none of them revealed anything. When the federal government came to ask Chinook to join the team that they were putting together, they found her through the good old fashioned method of faking an emergency to attract her attention. Amayah found that a rather ominous start to the relationship, but chose to ignore her own concerns.

Three years later, when most of her friends were dead and she was critically injured, Amayah promised herself that she was never going to ignore such intuitions ever again. After she got out of the hospital (having endured months of "jokes" about how she ought to be a fast healer) Chinook spent a few months as a solo superhero, based on the Prairies, before she came to the conclusion that she was not doing herself or anyone else any good. So she formally retired, and bought a cabin in northern Saskatchewan, far away from the lands where the Chinook winds blew.

Of course, having gotten into the habit of constantly training in the use of her powers, getting out of that habit has proven to be difficult, and Amayah has grown more adept in their use than she was during her actual superheroic career. She demonstrated that during one of her rare trips away from home when she happened to encounter Karsa Hur-ul early in her own residence in the area. After the predictable misunderstanding and fight, they wound up as friends.

During the Konan invasion, Chinook was drawn back out of retirement, but kept it clear to everyone that she met that this was a one-off. Unfortunately, one of the people she did not meet understandably did not get the message. Her aunt, who moved back to the Republic years ago, recently contacted her to let her know that one of her distant cousins has apparently been kidnapped by some assassin and to demand that she do something about this. She would prefer to refuse, but, well, family is family, right?

Chinook -- PL 10

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

Powers:
Run Like The Wind: Enhanced Advantages 8 (Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 4, Move-by Attack); Enhanced Defenses 10 (Dodge 5, Parry 5); Flight 8 (500 MPH), Platform - 26 points
Wind Weaving: Array (27 points)

• Blinding Gust: Ranged Cumulative Burst Area Affliction 6 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Fortitude; Visually Impaired, Visually Disabled, Visually Unaware), Limited to One Sense, Selective - 1 point
• Bursts of Wind: Ranged Multiattack Damage 9 - 27 points
• Vacuum Thunderclap: Ranged Burst Area Affliction 9 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) - 1 point

Windbreak: Sustained Immunity 2 (suffocation) - 2 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Connected, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Grabbing Finesse, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative 4, Improved Trip, Move-by Attack, Redirect, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+12), Athletics 8 (+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+8), Expertise: Civics 5 (+7), Perception 8 (+11), Persuasion 6 (+9), Ranged Combat: Wind Weaving 6 (+9), Stealth 4 (+8), Treatment 8 (+10).

Offense:
Initiative +20
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 1)
Burst of Wind +9 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 9)

Defense:
Dodge 15/10, Parry 13/8, Fortitude 6, Toughness 5/3, Will 8.

Totals:
Abilities 48 + Powers 57 + Advantages 9 + Skills 28 + Defenses 17 = 159 points

Offensive PL: 9
Defensive PL: 10
Resistance PL: 7
Skill PL: 7

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Family. Secret Identity.

Note: For her PL 9 incarnation active as a member of the Guardians, reduce all skills by 2 ranks, drop Connected, reduce Dodge to 8, Parry to 6, Fortitude to 4 and Will to 6.

 

[Davies]

Lightstep

Bruno Burton never really planned on being a superhero, so when he managed to survive that brief portion of his life, he was honestly relieved, as was his family. However, they were less than thrilled that Bruno failed to take the hint that he should also abandon all public use of the abilities he had inherited from their ancestors, and kept right on being an entertainer, enhancing his shows with his power to create light and sound. While his popularity has never been as great as other superpower entertainers, he has kept on making music and doing shows right up until the present day.

For Bruno, the story really started when his late mother Evangeline came back after the traditional excursion that the family elders encouraged all the young Burtons to undertake, so that they would realize the safety and security of the family home. Unlike most young Burtons, she came back midway through her first and only pregnancy. She would not speak of the father, but refused to give up the child for adoption and insisted on raising her son herself.

Fortunately for both of them, Bruno demonstrated the family powers when he entered adolescence, forcing the elders to accept him as a legitimate member of the family. Once that happened, Evangeline finally revealed the identity of his father to Bruno. During her excursion, she had wound up traveling with a number of musicians, most notably the great Gordon Lightfoot. Once she realized that she was pregnant with his child, however, she panicked and ran back home.

From that moment on, Bruno knew that he had to be a musician. He found that he did not really care much for the folk-pop genre that his supposed father had helped to pioneer, preferring the neo-disco sound that was becoming popular in his late teens, but adopted the alias Lightstep as a nod to him nevertheless. He had first real breakthrough in 2001, shortly after the attack, when he sang for a benefit and used his powers on stage for the first time. This led to him attending the Junos the next year ...

... which was where he happened to meet Gordon Lightfoot, who immediately noted the resemblance between this young person and Evangeline, whom he remembered fondly. However, Lightfoot was very clear that he had never been intimate with the young lady, having learned painful lessons about this in the past, and could not possibly be the father of any children she might have had. Nonplussed, Lightstep nevertheless thanked him for clarifying the matter and went on his way. (Later, Bruno used some federal resources he accessed as a member of the Guardians to verify this story.)

In 2003, he was recruited into the Guardians; while not exactly thrilled to be drafted into a crime-fighting and disaster relief group, he gave it his best effort in the hopes that it would give him greater publicity. Surviving the destruction of the group, three years later, certainly did that, and it could be said that he came out of it better than anyone. (It could be said, but anyone who said it to his face would be well-advised to be wearing eye protection and ear plugs.)

It has been a while since he last reached out to his fellow survivor, but seeing reports of her in the aftermath of the invasion brought her to mind, and he would certainly try to help her out if she sought it. But that would probably never happen ... right?

Lightstep -- PL 7

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

Powers:
Son Et Lumière: Environment 5 (daylight), Selective; Illusion 7 (audio), Area 12 (500,000 cft) - 94 points

Power Stunt:
Perception Area Cumulative Affliction 7 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed and Perception Impaired, Stunned and Perception Disabled, Incapacitated and Perception Unaware), Extra Condition

Advantages:
Attractive, Benefit 3 (millionaire), Connected, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Defense, Redirect.

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+7), Deception 4 (+8), Expertise: Performance 6 (+10), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 6 (+9), Persuasion 5 (+9), Stealth 4 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 7, Fortitude 3, Toughness 4/2, Will 7

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

Complications:
Art--Motivation. Secret (family.) Vestigial Sense of Responsibility.

Note: In his peak years (2003-2009) he was PL 8; increase his STA to 3 but reduce his PRE to 3, add Defensive Roll 2, Move-by Attack and Uncanny Dodge but remove Benefit and Connected, and increase his Will to 9.

In loving memory of Gordon Lightfoot.

 

[Davies]

Alouette

Every year, on the anniversary of that dark day in May, unless physically prevented from doing so, the Little Tramp makes a quiet pilgrimage to the site of her grave, marked with an image of a skylark, in Thunder Bay. In the first few years afterward, the grief he felt was too raw to even allow him to voice it as a howl. While he has made peace with her absence since then, he still does not utter any of the sounds that he can make, but simply curls up on the final resting place of Rebecca Kendall, born 1975, died 2006, and dreams that things are other than they are.

Her father was a park ranger in the Algonquin Provincial Park, and she lived with him there in one of the cabins. (Her mother had disappeared sometime in her early childhood.) He had, by the time she was ten years old, taught her all that he knew about living in harmony with nature, and warned her to avoid other people as much as she possibly could. At the time, Rebecca did not know that her father lived a double life as a member of the Sunrise Army, nor just how much danger that might mean for her.

When she met the Little Tramp for the first time, in 1985, she did not believe that he was really speaking to her. She had already developed some of her talents, but treated her ability to speak to the animals as something that she only imagined happening. Gradually, as both the reality of the situation and the danger they were both in, as he was being hunted by those who would have also hunted her if they knew of her existence, she came to rely on him as a friend. When as much safety as there could be was restored to the world, he apologized for moving on -- for the first time in his life -- and she promised that she would welcome him back if someday he wanted to rest again.

Rebecca and her father both managed to survive the dark years that still lay ahead, and he wound up working first for Eclipse Security and later for Argus. This meant moving back to the city, which was an uncomfortable experience for someone who had been taught to avoid human contact. But she managed to make friends -- both human and animal -- especially as her abilities grew. She began calling herself "Alouette" in 1998, soon after the debut of Paragon made it clear that a new age of superheroics had begun, but never really thought of herself as any sort of a hero. Just someone who helped when she could.

Five years later, she was the first superpower recruited to become a member of the Guardians, and helped to persuade many of the other prospective members, especially her old friend, to stay on. And three years after that, she was the last one to die, shot dead by operatives of Saturn. It is thought that she could have escaped if she had not sent the Little Tramp to get help, but she chose friendship over self-preservation, and no one who knew her doubts that she would always have made that choice.

Alouette -- PL 7

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

Powers:
"Borrowing:" Remote Sensing 1 (all senses; 2 miles), Medium (animal); Variable 1 (animal senses), Only When Remotely Sensing - 10 points
Xenotelepathy: Linked Mental Communication 2 (1 mile), Two-Way; Linked Comprehend Animals 2 - 18 points

Advantages:
Animal Affinity, Assessment, Defensive Roll 2, Fascinate (Persuasion), Hide in Plain Sight, Tracking.

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+5), Deception 4 (+7), Expertise: Survival 6 (+8), Insight 5 (+9), Investigation 4 (+6), Perception 6 (+10), Persuasion 6 (+9), Stealth 4 (+7), Treatment 4 (+6).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +3 (Close Damage 0)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 7, Fortitude 4, Toughness 6/1, Will 8.

Offensive PL: 2
Defensive PL: 7
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 5

Totals:
Abilities 36 + Powers 28 + Advantages 7 + Skills 22 + Defenses 16 = 109 points

Complications:
Doing Good--Motivation. Relates Better To Animals Than People.

 

[Davies]

Superior

Art by Javier Urena

The sad truth about super teams -- specifically officially established groups, rather than ones that are thrown together in response to a specific situation -- is that there is not always something for them to do in the aftermath of their founding. So it was with the Guardians, who found themselves assigned to a variety of publicity stunts in the aftermath of their introduction to the public. Most of these were, frankly, embarrassing; nobody really needs a large collection of superpowers to rescue a cat from a tree, even if the cat happens to belong to an ambassador. But one of those first missions had some lasting consequences.

Sent to investigate a number of sightings of the chimeric lake monster of Lake Superior, Mishipeshu, the team was surprised to learn that this was neither a hoax nor a cryptid. Initially, the subject of their investigations seemed to be a mutated, fresh water-breathing Atlantean, whose strength and mobility taxed their ability to capture him. But when they finally netted him, a further surprise was in store, for he promptly broke down crying, begging -- in English -- for mercy.

The "Atlantean" claimed to be William Chan, an eighteen-year-old from Sault Ste. Marie. Two years earlier, he and his father had been boating on Lake Superior at the start of the attack by Cerebron. Their boat capsized after being bombarded with odd radiation; his father drowned, but William mutated into his current form. Uncertain whether he could survive on land in this new form, William remained in the lake and survived on a diet of fish. It had not been until just now that he had learned that he was amphibious, becoming slightly weaker out of the water but able to live there indefinitely.

Unfortunately, attempts to reunite William with his family were not successful. His mother refused to accept him as her son, referring to him as a monster. (In her dubious defense, there were and are a number of oddities about his story; mutations of this magnitude almost always take much longer to develop than the few minutes that his account had them taking, usually on the order of days or weeks.) Left alone in the world, William chose to join the Guardians as their first and only non-charter member, naming himself for the great lake where he had his second birth.

Unfortunately, the tragedy of his life was not over. Jocelyn Chan was convinced that Superior was an imposter who had gained the knowledge of her son by eating his brain or something like that, so much so that she was easily recruited by the anti-superpower conspiracy within Argus. On that day in May, she appeared at the secured door of the Justice Annex and claimed to be seeking to reconcile with "William". Believing her, he opened the door -- allowing the armed men accompanying her into the base. He was one of the first fatalities of that episode.

In the aftermath, Jocelyn Chan was arrested, and remains incarcerated to this day. While disowned by her surviving family, they also refused to accept the body of "William". He was ultimately laid to rest in Lake Superior, in accordance with the will he had written.

Superior -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR 10/7 | STA 8 | AGL 4 | DEX 2 | FGT 6 | INT 1 | AWE 2 | PRE 3

Powers:
Aquatic: Enhanced Strength 3, Only When Immersed; Immunity 3 (cold, drowning, pressure); Impervious Toughness 8; Movement 1 (environmental adaptation-aquatic); Senses 1 (low-light vision); Swimming 7 (250 MPH) - 23 points
Tail: Extra Limb 1 - 1 point

Advantages:
Chokehold, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Favored Environment (aquatic), Great Endurance, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Takedown.

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+12/+9), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+8), Expertise: Survival 7 (+8), Insight 8 (+10), Intimidation 6 (+9), Perception 9 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +4
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 10/7)

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

Totals:
Abilities 66 + Powers 24 + Advantages 8 + Skills 17 + Defenses 8 = 123 points

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

Complications:
Acceptance--Motivation. Inhuman Appearance. Lonely, But Views This As Weakness.

 

[Davies]

Triage

Of the members of the Guardians, only Alpana Deshmukh, alias Triage, was aware of the secrets behind the formation of the team. As a nurse just starting her residency in 1990, she stumbled onto a Pythonian operation working out of the same Vancouver hospital where she was employed. Seeking help, she managed to contact the Sunrise Army, who dealt with the situation quite effectively. Unfortunately, the hospital administration were more embarassed by the fact that a technically illegal operation had been called in than they were by the infiltration by the Pythons, and fired Alpana as a scapegoat. The Sunrise Army promptly offered her a job with them.

At some point in the two years of desperate struggles that followed, Alpana developed certain psychic talents that she could use to heal others. While the scientists referred to them as "microscale psychokinesis", she preferred to think of them as channeling her own biological energy in ways that could relieve pain or restore injury, but which also allowed her to fly and protect herself when necessary. Uncertain of the limits of these talents, she chose not to use them publicly when she returned to civilian life, continuing to practice them in a covert manner as a nurse.

It was that discretion which led Donovan Tarkik to contact her when the Guardians were being formed. While other veterans of the Sunrise Army had developed powers and gone on to become superheroes during the early years of the second age, none of them had the right combination of stability and talent that Alpana possessed. While not exactly thrilled at the idea of losing her privacy like this, she nevertheless agreed to volunteer her services to the new team.

While Boreal was the titular commander of the Guardians, his emotional difficulties -- to put it kindly -- made him a somewhat ineffective leader despite his power, and Triage often stepped into the role of de facto head of the team. Her powers and her personality ensured that her teammates always knew that she would do everything in her power to make sure that they all came home safely. Of course, this put her under a great deal of personal strain, and there are some signs that she was heading for a meltdown even as the end came.

When it did come, she attempted to respond to the attack on her team in the most tactically appropriate manner, healing Boreal so that he could cover what she hoped would be her own retreat with the rest of the group. Unfortunately, as the attackers were well-acquainted with the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the team, they chose that moment to start using weaponry that inflicted fatal wounds on Boreal, knowing that the injuries would transfer to her. Despite this, Triage was still close to making an escape when the supervillain Slick, freed from his captivity within their base, strangled her to death. In the aftermath, she was cremated, with her ashes returned to her family. There is a small memorial to her in Vancouver.

Triage -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Bioenegy Control: Array (24 points)

• General Anesthetic: Perception Range Affliction 8 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) - 24 points
• Localized Anesthetic: Close Nullify Pain 8, Simultaneous, Effortless - 1 point
• Inward Channeled Energy: Flight 6 (250 MPH); Sustained Impervious Protection 6 - 1 point
• Outward Channeled Energy: Perception Range Energizing Healing 7, Feedback, Persistent, Stabilize - 1 point

Diagnostic Eye: Senses 4 (detect health [acute, analytical, ranged]) - 4 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Assessment, Improved Initiative, Leadership, Set-up, Skill Mastery (Treatment), Teamwork.

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5), Athletics 5 (+6), Expertise: Civics 4 (+7), Insight 5 (+8), Intimidation 3 (+6), Investigation 4 (+7), Perception 6 (+9), Stealth 4 (+7), Treatment 7 (+10).

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +2 (Close Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 6, Fortitude 5, Toughness 10/4, Will 9

Totals:
Abilities 42 + Powers 31 + Advantages 7 + Skills 20 + Defenses 14 = 114 points

Offensive PL: 8
Defensive PL: 8
Resistance PL: 7
Skill PL: 5

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Secrets (several.) Under Pressure

 

[Davies]

Boreal

In 1996, the first act of the life of Martin Beaubier, born thirty-three years earlier in Hamilton, drew to a close when his attempt to become the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and thus the Leader of the Opposition at that point, not only failed but failed in a humiliating manner. Beaubier believed that he had built a coalition to support him; it turned out that most of them had only been humoring him, with a few who might have even deliberately mislead him as to their intentions. Understandably shattered by this, Beaubier declared that he was retiring from politics. Within a few weeks of that, his marriage broke up and he abandoned the Ottawa law practice where he had settled in the aftermath. He was last seen catching a chartered plane flying into the Northwest Territories.

Just what happened over the next two years remains unclear. When he returned, two years later, he stated that he had spent enough time travelling through the icy reaches of Canada, beneath the Northern Lights, that the ice and cold had become part of himself. His body had changed so that he was utterly impervious to any level of cold and no longer seemed to breathe, he could project intense cold from his hands, and he transformed into an icy mist that allowed him to fly. (Unlike Snowfall, however, he was unable to create ice from the moisture present in the air, requiring quantities of fresh water in order to make ice.) Beaubier, now calling himself Boreal -- though he maintained no dual identity -- declared his intention to become the greatest Canadian superhero.

Which may or may not have been possible, even if he had not made his debut four months after that of Paragon. From the very start, the two of them operated in totally different manners. Where Boreal not only had no secret identity and made it quite clear that he viewed such secrecy as indicative of having something unpleasant to hide, Paragon refused to answer any questions about his life outside of the costume. Where Paragon was friendly, with a ready smile for any and all, Boreal was always as cold as a winter night on the prairies, expressing no emotion. The rivalry never became violent, and Paragon stated that he viewed Boreal as a valued ally in the fight for truth and justice. Boreal never directly discussed Paragon at all.

At least, not publicly. When contacted about the prospect of joining the Guardians when they were forming, he asked the government representative one and only one question: "Did you already ask Paragon?" Not until he was assured that they had not done so, and never even considered the notion, did he start to seriously consider the prospect. Ultimately, he agreed and was named team leader as the member of the group with the highest profile at that point. However, he soon found that he still lacked the talent needed to effectively manage a team, having not come so far from his days as a politician as he would have hoped.

When the team came under the attack that would be the end of them, Boreal was seriously injured with conventional weaponry before he was able to transform himself into mist. Healed by Triage, on whom he had relied so many times, he attempted to cover the escape of the rest of the team. Unfortunately, this played directly into the hands of the attackers, who now used laser weaponry in their follow-up attacks, fatally injuring him and causing injuries to the shielded Triage as well.

The publication of his private diaries, a few years after his death, had a mixed impact on his posthumous reputation. On the one hand, they made it clear that he had grown to respect and appreciate all of his teammates, describing them in far more glowing terms than he had ever been heard to use in public. On the other, they suggested that his intentions in working with the group were to lay the groundwork for his eventual return to politics, with the goal of becoming the first superpower prime minister, suggesting a rather cynical, manipulative attitude towards the group. Which of these was closest to the real Boreal is now unknowable.

Boreal -- PL 10

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

Powers:
Boreal Transformation: Linked Insubstantial 2; Linked Flight 6 (250 MPH); Immunity 19 (cold effects, life support) - 41 points
Cold Generation: Array (30 points)

• Cold Blast: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 10 (Resisted by Fortitude; Fatigued, Exhausted, Incapacitated) - 30 points
• Freeze Water: Create 10, Affects Corporeal 10, Quirk (requires water) - 1 point
• Render Brittle: Ranged Weaken Toughness 10, Affects Corporeal 10, Affects Objects Only - 1 point

Constant Chill: Continuous Environment 1 (intense cold), Affects Corporeal - 3 points

Advantages:
Assessment, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Evasion, Fearless 2, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Trance.

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+9), Expertise: Civics 6 (+9), Ranged Attack: Cold Generation 7 (+10), Insight 6 (+8), Perception 6 (+8), Persuasion 6 (+6).

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 3)
Cold Blast +10 (Ranged Fortitude 10)

Defense:
Dodge 7, Parry 9, Fortitude 6, Toughness 9/4, Will 6.

Totals:
Abilities 48 + Powers 76 + Advantages 11 + Skills 19 + Defenses 13 = 167 points

Offensive PL: 10
Defensive PL: 9
Resistance PL: 6
Skill PL: 4

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Cold and Impersonal. Rivalry (one-sided, with Paragon.) Temptation of Power. Vulnerability (heat attacks, especially lasers.)

Note: Dedicated to the memory of Scott Bennie.

 

[Davies]

Slick

Art by Timi Honkanen

He has always been a mystery. When he first appeared, in 2006, attacking Fort MacMurray, he was identified as a worker employed at the Suncor Voyageur South tarpit who had suffered a misadventure and died on the site, only for that death to reveal itself as a metamorphosis into a new and dangerous superpower. Not long after he was first defeated by the Guardians, however, investigation revealed that he had given a false name and background when he was hired, leaving his real identity still unknown. More than a decade has failed to uncover the truth about his original identity, raising questions about the real nature of his origins. He has not clarified matters, and by now possibly cannot.

Regardless, Slick was captured by the Guardians and held inside a special cell in their headquarters. Their intentions were to obtain permission to turn him over to the Morrison Institute in the hopes that he could eventually be restored to humanity. During the attack against them, one of the Saturn operatives freed him in the belief that the enemy of their enemy would be a convenient temporary ally. This did not work out so well for them, as while Slick did strangle Triage, he also fatally injured several of the besiegers during his escape. He would ultimately be recaptured by Paragon within a few hours of the incident.

Slick has frequently managed to escape from captivity in the years since then, going on rampages. He is known for targeting areas of great natural beauty, such as public parks, apparently out of nothing more than a desire to ruin them. His ability to do this has only grown since he learned that he suffers no pain when the oily substances that make up his body are ignited or reach high temperatures, turning him into burning or boiling oil. Oddly, he seems unable to cause this process himself, even if he is able to create a spark that should ignite him.

Slick does not realize, and by now possibly cannot realize, that each time that he employs this talent, some of the molecules associated with his consciousness are consumed in the fire, and apparently do not regenerate themselves. In other words, he becomes less cogent and self-aware every time he is set on fire. It has been theorized that he will eventually destroy his own mind if he continues in this way, becoming a still-living but no longer conscious puddle of oil. How long that will take is not definitely known.

Slick -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 9 | STA 8 | AGL 4 | DEX 0 | FGT 8 | INT -1 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
Body of Oil: Elongation 5; Immunity 10 (life support); Permanent Insubstantial 1; Movement 5 (slithering, sure-footed, trackless, water-walking 2); Speed 4 (30 MPH) - 29 points
Burning Oil: Reaction Damage 8, Limited (only after being targeted by a fire attack) - 24 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Defensive Roll 2, Evasion, Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Smash, Move-by Action, Redirect, Startle, Tracking.

Skills:
Intimidation 9 (+11), Perception 7 (+10), Stealth 6 (+10).

Offense:
Initiative +4
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 9, Reach 5)
Grab +8 (Grab 14)

Defense:
Dodge 7, Parry 9, Fortitude 10, Toughness 13/8, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 66 + Powers 53 + Advantages 14 + Skills 11 + Defenses 9 = 153 points

Offensive PL: 11
Defensive PL: 11
Resistance PL: 8
Skill PL: 6

Complications:
Destruction--Motivation. Hatred (nature.) Inhuman Appearance.

Note: In his earliest appearances, Slick was only PL 9; reduce STR to 6, STA to 5, FGT to 7, but increase INT to 0; drop his Burning Oil power, and reduce Dodge to 6.