The World In The Aftermath (Formerly A World Less Magical)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Robin Hood
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Just what motivated Earl Mason to don the mantle of the Golden Archer in 1999 is not something he's ever discussed with anyone, no matter how close they've gotten to him. He's been much more frank about the origins of his talents -- his family has often produced people with unusual abilities, as far back as their family history records. None of them, up to the current generation, ever used these talents for any real purpose, instead just keeping them secret and viewing them as proof of their superior qualities. He once admitted to his sister that he felt that this was a great waste, but wouldn't explain what changed his mind.

What changed his mind was being told to change his mind by his bosses at Argus. Two years before that, while attending Dartmouth, Earl had been taken in for questioning by campus security concerning certain events at a frat party he'd attended. While he hadn't done anything or witnessed anything, he nonetheless panicked and asked to have a lawyer present. This apparently alerted Argus to his situation. Argus, having access to information about the Mason family, immediately sent someone to pose as a lawyer from the firm his family had on retainer, and promptly kidnapped him as soon as he was out of custody.

Argus operatives outlined what they knew about the Mason family, based on an incident where Earl's grandfather had been tricked into a confrontation with Captain Mystic in the early sixties. They were prepared to publicize this information, as well as implications that the Masons had used their powers to enrich themselves in very illegal ways, unless Earl agreed to work for them. Frightened out of his mind, Earl agreed to their terms, and underwent agent training.

In 1999, with a new wave of superheroes becoming prominent, Earl was given his first major assignment -- to create a costumed identity for himself and pose as a hero, as part of a long-term operation to infiltrate the subculture that Argus expected to eventually form. (He was unaware that this was actually the backup plan to the agency's 'handler' operation.) Thus, he became the Golden Archer, using the skill at archery he'd developed since his childhood and some gimmick arrows that Argus provided him, and started fighting crime in his native Portland. He found the entire experience somewhat ridiculous, but also somewhat thrilling.

The first real test of his talents came in 2001, during Cerebron's attack. Fighting evil robots with a bow and arrow was completely insane, but Earl fought with confidence nonetheless, sure that he was being supported by fellow Argus agents operating more covertly. He didn't find out that he'd been completely on his own until after it was all over, and nearly blew a gasket at his supervisor, who basically told him to suck it up. (Argus management has changed quite a bit since then. That's what they claim, at least.)

A month after the attack, the Golden Archer was contacted by the Powerhouse and asked whether he'd be interested in joining. As this was exactly what his supervisors were hoping would happen, he naturally agreed, and sat through an extremely uncomfortable interview with the other members of the team, feeling wholly inadequate even after he revealed his actual super-power, a healing factor that had kept him on his feet throughout the battle. Despite how minor that power was, and how absurd his ability set was, the Golden Archer was welcomed as the ninth member of the team. He contributed quite a bit in the years that followed, but never felt like he belonged -- partly due to his increasing dislike of his role as a spy.

Things started to look both up and down in 2004, when he started working with Songbird, one of the few heroes of the original wave who was still active, and who'd recently relocated from Las Vegas to Portland. They had a very close, frequently intimate relationship, and the only reason he didn't propose her as a member of the Powerhouse was that she didn't want to have that level of publicity, particularly since she was raising a teen-aged daughter. At the same time, Earl's own family relationships became very uncomfortable when his much younger sister, Patricia, discovered his secret identity and demanded that she be allowed to accompany him on his missions. Thus began the career of the Golden Archer's sidekick, Burgher.

In 2006, the Golden Archer played a key role in upending Billie Zane's scheme to murder the Powerhouse and take over the world. What almost no one knows is that he did so by refusing an order he received from his supervisor at Argus (part of the conspiracy) to murder several friends and loved ones of the team's membership, and trying to go over their head in order to confirm it. This led to some of the most dangerous fights he and his fellows had faced up until this point, and Burgher was badly injured in one of them. In the wake of this, with Argus desperately cleaning house, Earl was put on an indefinite leave of absence from the agency, which suited him just fine, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, worse was yet to come. Within a year of that, Songbird was killed by a ring of corrupt Portland cops, and Earl discovered that his sister had developed a serious drug habit. It was all too much for someone who'd only ever been in this situation because he'd been forced into it. The Golden Archer resigned from the Powerhouse -- so far the only member to ever do so, though some of his fellows have considered it since then -- and Earl Mason, after getting his sister into rehab, disappeared from Portland, viewing himself as the single worst influence on his sister.

He resurfaced six years later, in England. When events teamed him with Blakestone, he refused to discuss what he'd been up to in that interval, but his skills had clearly been honed to an even greater degree. He assisted Jennifer and her allies in a fight with a corrupt entrepreneur actually named Guy Gisborne, and, when one of the man's thugs demanded if the cloaked archer was supposed to be Robin Hood, he resisted the impulse to reply, "No, I'm Albert Einstein," and just nodded before letting fly. By the next day, the return of Robin Hood was in all the papers, and he was stuck with the name.

A year or so after that, he teamed up with a teleporting martial artist who, yes, goes by the name Maid Marian. (Their relationship is completely platonic; Earl is still not over Songbird, though he felt a strange shock of recognition and attraction when he first met Prydwen that she clearly shared.) He's wryly commented that he expects to end up working with a Little John, a Friar Tuck, and an Allan-a-dale any day now. He's heard about his sister returning to superheroics, and working with Songbird's daughter, but hasn't made any attempt to contact her. At bottom, he still thinks that he's bad news ... an opinion shared by the CID, who hunt Robin Hood as determinedly as the Sheriff of Nottingham ever did.

Robin Hood - PL 10

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

Powers:
Healing Factor: Immunity 2 (disease, poison); Regeneration 5 - 7 points
Rapid Shot: Ranged Multiattack Damage 5, Easily Removable (bow and arrows, -6 points) - 9 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (bow and arrows), Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-all-trades, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged, Concealment), Ultimate Effort (Aim), Takedown, Uncanny Dodge

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+13), Athletics 8 (+11), Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+12), Deception 10 (+12), Expertise: Streetwise 9 (+10), Expertise: Survival 9 (+10), Intimidation 9 (+11), Investigation 8 (+9), Insight 8 (+12), Perception 6 (+10), Ranged Combat: Bow 8 (+15), Stealth 8 (+14).

Offense:
Initiative +10
Unarmed +12 (Close Damage 3)
Bow +15 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 5, Crit 19-20)

Defense:
Dodge 13, Parry 12, Fortitude 7, Toughness 6/2, Will 8

Totals:
Abilities 66 + Powers 16 + Advantages 13 + Skills 48 + Defenses 20 = 163 points

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Hunted by the Authorities. Prejudice (American in England). Secret Identity.
Last edited by Davies on Mon Aug 10, 2020 2:19 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Maid Marian
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Like many nascent superhumans, Miriam Herschlag was aware of the fundamentals of her powers long before they flowered in her adolescence. She didn't realize that there was anything unusual about the way that she always seemed to duck her way out of danger, whether it was her older brothers trying to get her for whatever prank she'd most recently pulled, or, on a more serious note, skinheads intending to punish her for her personal involvement in the death of Jesus. Manchester was not always a nice place, but Miriam loved her home and her family, and was sure that everything would be all right.

And then they were evicted from the home, and it looked like her family was going to have to split up if they wanted to survive. Trying to sleep on a cot in the synagogue, all that thirteen year-old Miriam could think about was how much she missed the home where she'd grown up, and then she found herself dreaming of being there again. It was wonderful ... right up until the new owners of the home discovered her and called the police to report a break-in.

The police took her away, but one of the officers recognized the fact that there hadn't actually been any breakage, and that the trespasser had clearly used other means to get in. (It's a pity that people like that can't use their powers for good, instead of evil, don't you think?) That clever dick called a rather different branch of the government, and so Miriam was out of jail long before her parents even knew that she was in. But that was not a positive development.

She found herself in a small room with a table to which she was handcuffed, listening to a smiling gentleman who had even less hair than a typical skinhead expand cheerfully on the subject of how she was going to use her powers to help make Britain great again. She would be used to keep it strong in the face of the contemptible foreigners who wanted to drag poor England down into the pits where they belonged, to build Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land, in fact. When at last he wound down, Miriam felt compelled to ask, "Um, you do know that I'm Jewish, right?"

Apparently, they did not. Go fig! Miriam still isn't sure how she managed to get out of there in one piece, despite really expensive power nullification technology in several locations, but somehow she did. (Sometimes, she wonders if maybe she didn't, and all this is all just a dream that she's having as she lies dying on a concrete floor. This contributes a bit to her impulsive and somewhat self-destructive tendencies.) Anyway, she knew that she couldn't go back to her family, as that would be the first place that they'd come looking for her.

So she disappeared into the underworld, learning the skills she needed to survive the hard way, always on the run, trusting no one. Miriam did a fair few things she's not really proud of, but that was what life was. And then, two years later, she started to hear a rumor about a crazy man who was out there, robbing from the rich to help the poor. Something about the tale spoke to her, but she still spent a week just watching the way that Robin Hood did his work before she decided to introduce herself, right when he was in the middle of a fight he didn't seem likely to win otherwise. She even introduced herself in what she imagined was a really badass manner. When he asked who she was, she said, "Maid Marian, duh, who eloh heck*, here they come again!"

Well, it was supposed to be badass.

She's the more practical member of the team; where Robin Hood hopes that their example will eventually inspire the United Kingdom to reject its authoritarian government, Marian believes in just focusing on surviving and helping one person at a time ... and having some fun in the process. She also thinks that a code against killing is just plain silly. You can't smack someone with a club hard enough to leave them unconscious and just assume that they're going to be okay, and so she accepts the likelihood that she's already killed a few people. Them's the breaks, guvner, and besides, they'd have killed her right back.

Aside from the fact that she still occasionally sleep-teleports and is a fugitive from justice, Maid Marian's biggest problem is probably the way that she didn't ever get much in the way of an education, both from a lack of interest and later a lack of opportunities. She often needs things explained to her, as though she was serving as an audience surrogate in a show for children. Robin has noted that she usually doesn't need to have the explanation more than once, though.

Maid Marian - PL 9

Abilities:
STR
1 | STA 1 | AGL 5 | DEX 5 | FGT 7 | INT 0 | AWE 2 | PRE 2

Powers:
Hyper-Reflexes: Enhanced Advantages 7 (Defensive Roll 2, Evasion, Improved Initiative 3, Uncanny Dodge); Enhanced Defenses 10 (Dodge 5, Parry 5) - 17 points
Teleporter: Accurate Teleport 9 (2 miles), Turnabout, Increased Mass 3 - 31 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Close Attack 2, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment, Evasion, Grabbing Finesse, Improved Initiative 3, Move-by Action, Takedown, Taunt, Teamwork, Uncanny Dodge.

Equipment:
Clubs (Strength-based Damage 4, Split Attack)

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+9), Athletics 4 (+5), Close Combat: Club 2 (+9), Deception 4 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+6), Insight 4 (+6), Investigation 7 (+7), Perception 6 (+8), Stealth 5 (+10), Technology 6 (+6)

Offense:
Initiative +17
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 1)
Club +11 (Close Damage 5, Split Attack)

Defense:
Dodge 12/7, Parry 12/7, Fortitude 4, Toughness 6/1, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 46 + Powers 48 + Advantages 10 + Skills 24 + Defenses 9 = 139 points

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Family. Secret Identity (Mary Portman). Uncontrolled Power. Wanted by the Police.

* Or a word that almost rhymes with that.
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Voltron64
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

Ok, you have got to tell us about how Britain ended up fascist (more so than usual) and whether the Power Company and/or Argus are planing to do something about it.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Wed May 27, 2020 2:11 am Ok, you have got to tell us about how Britain ended up fascist (more so than usual)
Eventually.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Red Archer
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Last year, Patricia Mason received her ten year sobriety medal from Narcotics Anonymous. She kept up a smile all the way through the ceremony, and all the way home, and back in her apartment, where she sat staring at the medal for a full half-hour before she finally broke down in tears at the hypocrisy of it all. All that she'd done for the past ten years was replace her chemical addiction with a different one, and one that she knew perfectly well was going to kill her just as surely as the drugs would. And then, following this realization, she dressed up in a red suit and went out to fight sulsas.

She'd always felt like an afterthought, when compared to her smart, strong older brother and her lovely, patient older sister. With their example before her, what else was there for her to be but the family screw-up? It didn't help that they'd gotten cool powers from the family legacy, while all she got was the ability to see further and in less light. The only good thing to come with it was that her parents' assertion that this was proof of her superiority bounced right off her. How anyone could take that notion seriously was just beyond her.

And then things got a little bit more interesting when she found out that Earl was the Golden Archer, and, with what she thought was great wit, declared herself to be his sidekick, Burgher. ("What?" she said, in response to his disgusted look. "It means 'townsman', right? You're the outlaw, and I'm the townsman who helps. What else could I possibly be referencing?") It was all the greatest thrill she'd ever known ... until it wasn't, anymore, and she found herself in more pain than she'd thought it was possible to be, and started taking pills to cope. And when the pills didn't do it anymore, she found other ways.

Eventually, she woke up in a clinic to learn that her brother had left town, her parents wanted nothing to do with her, and her sister regarded her as a vast disappointment. All of this was totally conducive to efforts to get her head straightened out, really. She went through numerous relapses over the next couple of years, but finally managed to start making some progress.

Meanwhile, Portland was continuing to go merrily to hell. The mayor's office and the police department were firmly in the grip of the local mob, which had resurged after the Golden Archer's disappearance. Her parents (who still wanted nothing to do with her) responded to this situation by leaving town, while her sister and her family seemed eerily untouched by any of this. Finally, in 2013, something burst inside Patricia, and she obtained a costume from the same people who'd manufactured her earlier one, picked up her collection of her brother's left-over arrows, and went out to try to do something about all this. Or so she told herself.

In the process, she's managed to team up with her brother's late girlfriend's daughter, who also goes by Songbird. They started out as rivals -- enemies, if we're being quite frank -- but as Leah finally realized that Patricia wasn't going to quit and run like Earl had, and Patricia realized how much help she needed, they've settled in to a somewhat tense partnership that has mellowed to the point where they're probably friends -- friends who occasionally fantasize about strangling each other, but friends. She's also grateful for all the technical help they get from Leah's girlfriend, Xenia. And someone keeps sending her regular packages of replacement arrows, but she hasn't been able to find out who it is. (Spoiler: It's Darkwing.)

Her own personal life is more or less barren. It's honestly bewildering how many people who've developed a romantic interest in her have turned out to be complete psychopaths whom she ends up having to beat up and send to jail. Back in the day there was one guy who seemed pretty promising, but she has no idea where he is these days. Her sister has told her in no uncertain terms that she shouldn't even think about contacting her or her nieces and nephews, and she's still mad at her brother for leaving her, so rumors about him actually playing Robin Hood in Merry England don't interest her one bit. Nope. Not at all.

At least she has her meetings. That's a real help. Even if she can't ever talk about her real addiction there.

Red Archer -- PL 9

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

Powers:
Bow and Trick Arrows: Array (10 points); Easily Removable (-6 points)
  • Standard Arrow: Ranged Damage 5 - 10 points
  • Taser Arrow: Ranged Affliction 5 (Resisted by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) - 1 point
  • Flare Arrow: Ranged Burst Area Affliction 5 (Resisted by Fortitude; Visually Impaired, Visually Disabled, Visually Unaware), Limited to One Sense - 1 point
  • Net Arrow: Ranged Affliction 5 (Resisted by Dodge; Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless and Immobile), Extra Condition, Limited Degree - 1 point
Instinctive Shooting: Enhanced Advantages 10 (Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 [Bow], Ranged Attack 6, Ultimate Effort [Aim]) - 10 points
Keen Eyes: Senses 3 (extended vision 2, low-light vision) - 3 points

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (Millionaire), Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Diehard, Equipment 6, Great Endurance, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Bow), Improved Initiative, Language 2 (Cantonese, Indonesian, Japanese, Russian), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Skill Mastery (Athletics), Takedown, Ultimate Effort (Aim).

Equipment:
Heavily Modified 1976 Plymouth Arrow: Size Large Strength 6, Speed 6 (ground), Defense 8, Toughness 9, Powers: Arrow Launcher (Ranged Burst Area Damage 6) - 29 points

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10), Athletics 6 (+8), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+10), Deception 8 (+9), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+6), Intimidation 8 (+9), Investigation 6 (+6), Persuasion 8 (+9), Ranged Combat: Bow 3 (+7), Treatment 6 (+6)

Offense:
Initiative +8
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 2)
Standard Arrow +13 (Ranged Damage 5, Crit 19-20)
Taser Arrow +13 (Ranged Fortitude 5, Crit 19-20)
Net Arrow +13 (Ranged Affliction 5, Resisted by Dodge, Crit 19-20)
Flare Arrow -- (Ranged Burst Area Fortitude 5)

Defense:
Dodge 12, Parry 10, Fortitude 6, Toughness 4/2, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 44 + Powers 20 + Advantages 18 + Skills 30 + Defenses 20 = 129 points

Complications:
Justice--Motivation. Recovering Addict. Secret Identity. Temper. Wanted by Police.

Note: Should stats for Burgher be required, replace her Bow and Trick Arrows with Maid Marian's equipment bought as a Removable power, drop her Ranged Combat: Bow and 1 point each from Deception, Intimidation and Investigation, and drop her Equipment.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Songbird (II)
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In Leah Blade's somewhat jaundiced opinion, the most amazing thing about her mother's career as a superhero is the way that she managed to keep it a secret from her only daughter right up until the day that she died. Making her debut in the awful year of 1982, the original Songbird kept right on fighting the good fight all the way through the eighties and the nineties, only taking a short break to give birth Leah in 1989 before diving right in. Leah's father looked after her, initially, before that travelling man moved on when she was seven. After that, she was mostly cared for by her mother's 'friends'.

Leah formed a lot of crazy ideas about 'the job' that seemed to be everything to her mother. Ironically, superhero was never one of her guesses, even after the second wave of the capes and body-stocking crowd started. She was more inclined to guess 'secret agent', or 'underworld fixer', or even 'high-class callgirl' in her most cynical moments. Sometimes she thought that there was no job, that whenever her mother got a phone call from anybody, she'd just drop whatever she was doing and go out to have fun, leaving Leah alone with her questions.

And then, one day, Leah saw her mother's face on the news with the announcement that the mysterious Songbird had finally been identified as one Sarah Blade, age forty-nine ... in the wake of her murder by persons unknown.

At the funeral, Leah cut through the trembling condolences of Earl Mason, the most recent of her mother's 'friends', to very directly ask him if he was the Golden Archer. When his face gave the answer away, she laid into him as a convenient scapegoat for all her anger and grief about the absence of her mother in her life, both in the past and the way that it was now permanent, blaming him for everything that had happened. He just stood there and took it, which only made her angrier and angrier, and she finally screamed so loudly that he was flung back several feet. Until that very moment, she'd had no idea that she had super-powers.

There didn't seem to be much point, but Leah still finished her high school education, and then officially joined a band with some of her friends. Her ulterior motive in becoming a singer was that it would let her spend a lot of time practicing with her voice, ensuring that it would never get out of control like that again. She came to enjoy performing, but dealing with the sort of people who were interested in hiring the band was not the sort of thing she relished. But nobody likes every part of their job, right?

Then one of her mother's murderers was released from prison early. Well, technically, he hadn't been tried for murder, since he'd weaseled out of that by testifying against his fellow pieces of crap, so he'd only gotten eight years for various associated charges, and shown enough good behavior to be out in six. Leah suppressed yet another scream, and reminded herself that his testimony had gotten life without for the rest of them, and so as long as he stayed the hell out of her way, she could live with the situation.

Of course, he promptly showed up at her latest gig, laughing with his good buddies about how big he'd felt when that <racial slur> <anti-super slur> <misogynist term> had coughed out her last breath, right in front of her. So she let out that scream she'd been suppressing.

Leah is pretty sure someone set her up, but it's not like it matters anymore. She'd long since lost any illusions that she was ever going to make it big as a singer, and letting go of that coasting lifestyle didn't hurt. Much. Fighting crime and ensuring that all the crap that happened to her doesn't happen to someone else affords her much more satisfaction, anyway. And unlike a certain person, she doesn't have to wear a mask or the same set of clothes all the time!

She's very slow to trust people, understandably given everything that's happened, but tends to trust absolutely when she does. (It took most of four years for her to trust Xenia, for example.) Her scream is the most unreliable weapon in her arsenal, so she tends to rely on her hand-to-hand skills more than that. Making it more reliable is something she'd like to do, but would require her to seek help from experts in the field, none of whom she knows or regards as trustworthy. So she's not likely to develop any of the cool tricks that her mother could do anytime soon. Que sera, sera.

Songbird -- PL 8

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

Powers:
Vocal Blast:
Cone Area 2 Damage 8, Tiring - 16 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2, Evasion, Extraordinary Effort, Grabbing Finesse, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improvised Weapon, Inspire, Instant Up, Interpose, Language (Spanish), Leadership, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Redirect, Set-up, Takedown.

Equipment:
Motorcycle

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+9), Athletics 6 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+14), Expertise: Performance 6 (+10), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+7), Insight 5 (+8), Intimidation 4 (+8), Perception 4 (+7), Stealth 4 (+8), Vehicles 4 (+7).

Offense:
Initiative +9
Unarmed +14 (Close Damage 2)
Vocal Blast -- (Cone Area Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 10, Parry 12, Fortitude 6, Toughness 4/2, Will 8.

Totals:
Abilities 58 + Powers 16 + Advantages 20 + Skills 24 + Defenses 17 = 135 points

Complications:
Legacy--Motivation. Relationship
(Xenia Latham). Suspicious. Temper. Wanted By Police.
Last edited by Davies on Tue Feb 02, 2021 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Xenia Latham
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Born in 1984, Xenia Latham was a child of the Pythonian Insurgency. Her parents weren't high-ranking members or anything like that, but she was very definitely inculated with the belief that Pythia and her followers were going to rule the world much better than any of the existing governments could, and that all of the superheroes (except for Him, of course) were just a bunch of powered thugs. When the Insurgency was finally broken in 1993, she didn't really appreciate what it meant that her parents had only escaped jail time by testifying against the rest of the organization; she viewed them as having betrayed the cause, and never forgave them for this.

In her early teens, she found solace in the Internet, seeking out other damaged children of 'the movement' like herself. Lots of them talked a good game about how 'wonnadeezdaze' they were going to rebuild the Pythons, but nobody seemed to have any concrete ideas about what they would do when they did. Not that Xenia was any better, really. The best she could manage was stealing music and viewing it as some sort of grand revolutionary gesture. And then the heroes started coming back, and she found a target for her anger.

When she managed to graduate high school in 2002, she was offered a scholarship to a technical college, but blanched a bit when she realized that the offer came from Argus. But the adviser was ready for that, and briefed on Xenia's background. She portrayed Argus as the ideal check on the powers of the superhuman community, intended to keep them under control by any means necessary. They might have been founded by former members of the JSOT, but there were plenty of former Pythons in the mix. Fascinated despite herself, Xenia graduated with a degree in computer engineering two years later and went to work, quickly recruited by Billie Zane's conspiracy.

And that was where it all started to go all so terribly wrong. When the day came, her unit apparently didn't get the right orders to activate. She's not sure whether her superviser screwed up or suffered some kind of moral crisis. All that Xenia knows is that the people who were working for the conspiracy (and shouting old Python slogans in the process) were trying to kill her ... and that a woman in black velvet saved her life by blasting her attackers with the force of her scream.

Afterwards, she managed to satisfy the review board as to her ignorance, if not necessarily innocence, and kept her job. Which was good, because she realized that she didn't really have much of anything else -- no friends, no family (her parents had died in Cerebron's attack), and no conviction that she was on the right side of anything. For almost a year she drifted through life, doing the bare minimum to survive. Then she saw the news reports about the death of the superhero who'd saved her, and additional reports harassing that woman's teen-aged daughter, and the germ of an idea began to come to her.

It took her another year to wrangle a transfer to Argus' poorly staffed Portland office, and another year after that to track Leah Blade down ... and then four years of constant effort to get the justifiably suspicious young woman to trust that she wanted to help her, not use her or hurt her. Somehow, in the process, their relationship turned sexual and then romantic -- in that order -- which was another thing that Xenia never expected to happen. But it's probably the best thing in her life.

When what she figured was bound to happen finally did, and Leah became the new Songbird, and started working with the Red Archer, Xenia managed to wrangle an assignment as their handler. Yes, both of them; their activities are too small-time for Argus to assign them separate handlers. On the other hand, Argus doesn't know about her personal relationship with Leah, and they definitely don't know that Leah is fully apprised of all aspects of what Xenia does for a living. (Patricia is not, but she's smart enough to realize that Xenia's supposed inside sources are a little too detailed to be illicit.)

Xenia's biggest issue is trying to figure out who set Leah up in 2013. (Leah claims not to care, but that's ridiculous.) She thinks there might be a connection between that incident and whatever it was that caused Railgun to have a psychotic break and try to kill the Blue Bolt, as well as a few other incidents that have messed up the lives of young supers. In the process, she's established connections with Sam Hazzard, with whom she shares information. She has the horrible suspicion that she already knows who's behind all this ... and that she used to work for them.

Xenia Latham -- PL 5

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

Advantages:
Assessment, Benefit (Gather Information checks with Technology), Connected, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Eidetic Memory, Evasion, Grabbing Finesse, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Languages 2 (Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish), Uncanny Dodge

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+5), Athletics 4 (+5), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+6), Deception 3 (+5), Expertise: Current Events 4 (+9), Expertise: Streetwise 4 (+9), Insight 5 (+8), Investigation 2 (+7), Perception 4 (+7), Persuasion 4 (+6), Ranged Combat: Guns 3 (+6), Stealth 6 (+8), Technology 5 (+10), Treatment 2 (+7), Vehicles 3 (+6).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 1)

Defense:
Dodge 5, Parry 5, Fortitude 3, Toughness 5/3, Will 6.

Totals:
Abilities 46 + Advantages 14 + Skills 27 + Defenses 11 = 98 points

Complications:
Atonement--Motivation. Relationship
(Leah). Secret (Argus agent).
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Voltron64
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

Davies wrote: Thu May 28, 2020 1:24 am Xenia's biggest issue is trying to figure out who set Leah up in 2013. (Leah claims not to care, but that's ridiculous.) She thinks there might be a connection between that incident and whatever it was that caused Railgun to have a psychotic break and try to kill the Blue Bolt, as well as a few other incidents that have messed up the lives of young supers. In the process, she's established connections with Sam Hazzard, with whom she shares information. She has the horrible suspicion that she already knows who's behind all this ... and that she used to work for them.
Zane...or the Pythons?

And why do I have this dreadful feeling that the Pythonian Insurgency may have once been the Stardust Crusaders, their organization commandeered by another maniacal superhuman after their old one left the solar system?
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Thu May 28, 2020 1:39 am And why do I have this dreadful feeling that the Pythonian Insurgency may have once been the Stardust Crusaders, their organization commandeered by another maniacal superhuman after their old one left the solar system?
You should listen to that feeling. It is a smart feeling.

The situation is a bit more complicated, as the Insurgency incorporated the wreckage of a lot of failed criminal conspiracies, but the Stardust Crusaders were at the heart of it. Hence the reference to "Him".
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Kingfisher
Image

Imagine if a group of supervillains took over a city ... and that was a step up for the people who lived there.

That was the situation which confronted the city of St. Louis, Missouri, in 2013. For many years, it had been regarded as the most crime-ridden city in the United States, with the highest number of murders, robberies, sexual assaults, drug offenses, and numerous other crimes. It had reached the point where even many professional criminals wished things would ease up a bit -- though they generally meant that as 'all you other guys stop, so I can start making more money'.

One of those who'd had a bit more vision than that was Michael Selvon, a professional confidence man and small-time mastermind. In his youth, he'd been taken in by one of the think tanks early in the project's lifespan, before the loyalty conditioning system had been fully developed, so that he felt free to walk away when he came of age. While he'd developed considerable technical expertise, he'd only ever put it to use in the service of his true vocation -- grifting.

In 2009, while having a smoke in one of St. Louis back alleys and privately grousing about how his take of the most recent job he'd pulled had been wholly inadequate, Selvon chanced upon something that would change his life. Further down the alley, a young man in a costume dropped out of the sky and landed light as a feather. Then, apparently without realizing that he was being watched, he tore the costume off, threw it into a trash bin, and stumbled away down the alley in a set of civilian clothes.

Selvon waited until he was sure that the kid wasn't coming back to go and take a gander at the costume, which made his breath quicken. He'd never encountered Darkwing or his sidekick Talon, but he recognized this as the flight suit employed by the latter. (Somewhat after this, he would learn that the two had had a falling out, explaining much of what had just happened.) It was damaged, but Selvon had the sense that he could repair it, and possibly even improve on the design.

He spent three weeks and a fair chunk of change doing just that, turning it from the kid's costume into something that Selvon would want to be seen in. With that, he made his debut as the Kingfisher, the flying bandit, certain that this would allow him to rise as high in the criminal underworld as he could fly in the skes. But it didn't. He was regarded as a nuisance by the public, a minor problem by the superheroes that he fought, and a pawn by crimelords. All that grated on his ego quite a bit.

It's not at all clear if he came up with the idea for the Combination himself, though that's certainly how he presented it to the fellow multiple-time losers that he invited to a meeting in 2013. There, he pointed out that the continued success of the Powerhouse, and more recently the Ultra Girls organization which had been born from it, proved that combining their strengths was the smart thing to do. "So let's do that," he said. "Let's get organized, and take charge of this rotten little town."

And they did, after spending several months in training and preparation. The leadership of St. Louis organized crime was massacred with startling ease. Civilian leaders were bought off, terrorized into obedience, or disappeared, as were the handful of local vigilantes. Within a year, though the overwhelming majority of the public had no clue what had happened, Kingfisher and his fellows were firmly in control of the city. They named themselves the Combination after one of the nicknames of Murder Incorporated.

Of course, something like this would attract Argus attention, and the agency attempted to bring down the Combination just as quickly as it had risen. But after several operations failed to accomplish that, the recently assigned Director of Combination operations came to the conclusion that they were out of their league, and so it was time to call in the heavy hitters. In a very rare move, Argus openly contacted the Powerhouse, explained the situation, and asked them to intervene.

The original six were all on hand for what happened next. As they descended towards St. Louis, a giant holographic arrow appeared in the sky, pointing towards one particular skyscraper. Preparing for a trap, they approached the building, found its upper floors open to the air and entered to discover the members of the Combination seated around a round table not unlike their own. Kingfisher greeted them like old friends, but when the threats started up, he calmly asked them to leave town, and leave them to their own devices.

"Why should we do that?" asked Darkwing, who was taking point for obvious reasons.

Kingfisher smiled. "Because of the twenty-three bombs I've set up all around the city, shielded by nullification fields, all set to go off if I die, if I'm removed a certain distance from the city, if I'm removed from my costume, if I'm sufficiently annoyed ... oh, so many contingencies."

Basilea couldn't read his mind, but she had the sense that he was telling the truth. Clearly, a direct assault was not the way to go, so with the promise that this was not over, the Powerhouse withdrew from what they regard as their greatest defeat thus far. And Kingfisher let out a sigh of relief that his bluff had worked. Twenty-three nullification shields had been well beyond what he could obtain with his resources.

There were only eight.

In some ways, things really have gotten better in St. Louis. Property taxes have never been lower. (But, aside from properties owned by the Combination, everybody pays protection.) Crime rates are down too. (Because a crime has to be reported to figure in such numbers, and everybody knows better than to report certain crimes.) Police brutality is at an all-time low. (The Combination's people do that sort of thing for them.) The schools are getting plenty of money! (The better to indoctrinate the next generation with the Combination's 'ideals'.) The only question is, how long can this run of good fortune last? (That is indeed the question.)

Kingfisher's greatest strength is that he genuinely does listen to his associates, rather than viewing them as pawns. They're much more like rooks or knights -- not nearly as readily sacrificed. That said, he would sacrifice just about anything to win the game that he imagines himself playing with the forces of law and order, and should never be imagined to have a soft side for anybody. His greatest weakness is probably his tendency to come up with plans that are just a little too baroque for his own good -- he'll assign seven people to do the job of four, with the other three given orders to watch each other for potential double-crosses.

Kingfisher -- PL 9

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

Powers:
Armored Costume: Removable (-7 points)
* Armor: Protection 3 - 3 points
* Lenses: Senses 6 (darkvision, extended vision, tracking infravision 2) - 6 points
* Psychic Shielding: Enhanced Will 4, Impervious 12 - 16 points
* Wings: Strength-based Damage 4, Accurate 2; Flight 5, Wings - 11 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Beginner’s Luck, Benefit 5 (multi-millionaire, status), Connected, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Takedown, Teamwork, Ultimate Effort (Deception checks), Well-Informed

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+10), Athletics 9 (+11), Deception 9 (+13), Expertise: Criminal 8 (+14), Expertise: Current Events 6 (+12), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+14), Intimidation 8 (+12), Perception 8 (+10), Persuasion 8 (+12), Technology 7 (+13).

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 2)
Wing Slash +12 (Close Damage 6)

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

Totals:
Abilities 64 + Powers 29 + Advantages 14 + Skills 39 + Defenses 21 = 167 points

Complications:
Power--Motivation. Overly Flashy Plans. Secret Identity.
Last edited by Davies on Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Voltron64
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

Davies wrote: Thu May 28, 2020 8:41 pm
In 2009, while having a smoke in one of St. Louis back alleys and privately grousing about how his take of the most recent job he'd pulled had been wholly inadequate, Selvon chanced upon something that would change his life. Further down the alley, a young man in a costume dropped out of the sky and landed light as a feather. Then, apparently without realizing that he was being watched, he tore the costume off, threw it into a trash bin, and stumbled away down the alley in a set of civilian clothes.

Selvon waited until he was sure that the kid wasn't coming back to go and take a gander at the costume, which made his breath quicken. He'd never encountered Darkwing or his sidekick Talon, but he recognized this as the flight suit employed by the latter. (Somewhat after this, he would learn that the two had had a falling out, explaining much of what had just happened.) It was damaged, but Selvon had the sense that he could repair it, and possibly even improve on the design.
Dark little twist on this...
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Yep, that's what I was going for.
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Akane
Image

As a nameless orphan, she sought out the way of the ninja, and found it at a remote monastery in the Iga province, where they gave her the teaching that they sought. But she rejected their passivity and returned to the world, seeking the way of bloodshed and battle. She received her nomme de guerre on a winter's night, long ago, as she slaughtered five hot-blooded youths so swiftly that a crimson cloud seemed to fill the air, and the sixth youth stammered, "Akane". It pleased her so much that she let him live, though she took his sword-arm as a trophy.

Okay, none of that is true. Her name is Akane Shinguji and she was born to a perfectly normal Japanese family in San Francisco (and grew up not too far from where Vixen once lived.) When her powers -- which are good old fashioned psychic talents, not something she cultivated through martial arts study -- blossomed in her early years, she ran away from home rather than deal with her parents. She fell in with a group of eccentric martial artists who were trying to live like they really were ninja, and trained with them until they kicked her out for being too aggressive.

Lacking other options, Akane became a sword for hire, preferring to work as a bodyguard but willing to take other jobs if they paid well. One of the people who hired her was Michael Selvon in his pre-Kingfisher days, and she also did work for him after he started swanning about in a costume. When he started putting together the group that would become the Combination, hers was the first number he called.

She still acts as Selvon's bodyguard on those rare occasions when he gets out of the costume, disguising herself so that no one links him to the Combination. Her primary job is to act as the group's main enforcer. Whenever any of them has someone they want cut down, and don't want to do it themselves for whatever reason, Akane gets the job ... and she's starting to get a little sick of it, to be honest. She lost count of the number of people she's killed a long time ago, and is fairly sure that a lot of them would have been just as easily intimidated or even bought off. But it was simpler and easier for her to be sent out to put them in the book of the dead, and so off she went. Was this seriously what she wanted when she was traveling with that bunch of actors?

Akane represents a weak point in the Combination, but it's important to remember that her conscience only bothers her about killing people who couldn't really defend themselves. She has gotten to the point where she automatically assumes that anyone who fights back is fighting just as lethally as she is, and will not hesitate to answer this imagined murderous behavior with real murderous behavior. She is also thoroughly intimidated by the Kingfisher. While she thinks he is probably only abut half as smart as he thinks, that's still a lot smarter than she is, and she seriously fears the consequences of failing him.

In her spare time, she likes pina coladas and long walks in the rain. What spare time? She's always busy!

Akane -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR
2, STA 2, AGL 6, DEX 6, FGT 9, INT 0, AWE 4, PRE 1

Powers:
Chi Powers: Array (10 points)
  • One With Shadows: Concealment 10 (All Senses; Limited to in Darkness) - 10 points
  • Shadow Duplicate: Illusion 5 (Affects Vision and Hearing, Limited to recreating the ninja’s image) - 1 point
  • Focused Strike: Penetrating 5 on Strength Damage - 1 point
  • Step out of Shadows: Teleport 5 - 1 point
Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-out Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 4, Evasion 2, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close, Concealment), Ranged Attack 3, Teamwork, Weapon Bind.

Equipment:
Shuriken (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1), Smoke Grenade (Ranged Cloud Area Concealment Attack 4), Sword (Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical), and 4 points of equipment as needed.

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+13), Athletics 8 (+10), Close Combat: Sword 4 (+13), Deception 8 (+9), Expertise: Ninja Lore 10 (+10), Intimidation 9 (+10), Investigation 8 (+8), Perception 8 (+11), Ranged Combat: Throwing 6 (+12), Sleight of Hand 4 (+10), Stealth 8 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +10
Shuriken +15 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 1)
Sword +13 (Close Damage 5, Penetrating, Crit 19-20)
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 2, Penetrating).

Defense:
Dodge 13, Parry 14, Fort 7, Tou 4/2 (without Defensive Roll), Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 60 + Powers 13 + Advantages 21 + Skills 40 + Defenses 21 = 155 points.

Complications:
Duty--Motivation. Developing a Conscience. Overworked.
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squirrelly-sama
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by squirrelly-sama »

Ah so this is what you were talking about. A Chuuni suddenly gaining powers is always an amusing concept.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

squirrelly-sama wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 4:25 am Ah so this is what you were talking about. A Chuuni suddenly gaining powers is always an amusing concept.
Mm-hm, and I didn't want to use the typical black pyjamas look, either, so the image was just perfect.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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